The detailed plan which will be presented to Adelaide City Council on Tuesday reveals tram stops at the North Tce entrance of David Jones and the UniSA apartments and a major bus interchange along Grenfell St.

A civic hub including a piazza and outdoor dining area has also been earmarked for the centre of the mall, along with set busking performance zones.

The entire city block bordered by the mall, King William and Grenfell streets and James Place has also been earmarked for development.

Rundle Mall Management Authority chairman Theo Maras said the plan revealed an early wish list. “This time we’re not just looking at what colour the bricks on the ground are, we’re looking at what will reinvigorate a 24/7 environment,” he said.

via AdelaideNow

Mr Harbison announced last week he would lobby the State and Federal governments for a tram extension along West Tce, Morphett or Gray streets then onto Grote St and back to Victoria Square.

His plan has received the thumbs up from various city precinct groups and business leaders, who say it will boost trade in the West End and encourage more people to move to town, thereby helping the City Council reach its population target of 25,500 people by 2012. nte

Adelaide West End Association president Andrew Wallace said any extra investment in the precinct would be “really helpful” for local traders.

“It’s an area of the city that’s been somewhat neglected,” Mr Wallace said.

“It hasn’t gone through the same regeneration as the East End and this could be a really good chance to link ourselves back to the community and get people walking passed businesses’ front doors.”

Grote Business Precinct chairman Bill Marles said a full city loop was a “darn good idea”, not just for town regulars but visitors arriving from the nearby interstate bus depot on Franklin St.

“We’ve got a lot more residents in our precinct and that’s growing all the time,” he said.

“And for the interstate passengers – it would be brilliant if they didn’t have to walk up to Victoria Square if there was a tram stop right outside the station.”

Business SA chief executive Peter Vaughan said the proposed tram route must be “analysed closely” so parking and traffic flows were not restricted.

“If implemented effectively, a further extension of the tramline could provide a number of advantages to local businesses in the West End, including new development and convenient access for many customers,” he said.

SA senator Nick Xenophon – who has publicly spoken out against the Federal Labor and Liberal parties’ policies to cut immigration numbers in the lead-up to the August 21 election – said boosting the city’s population was crucial and largely relied on extra public transport.

“Population growth is good for the environment. You don’t have urban sprawl and the Parklands could be peoples’ natural backyards,” he said.

“But you need to do a whole range of things and public transport is one of them.”

via Messenger News

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A furore erupted today after it was revealed the council’s Development Assessment Panel had rejected plans for the extension that “eat into the parklands” and require removal of 25 significant trees.

AdelaideNow readers have pounced on the issue, most attacking the council as anti-development (see comments below).

Councillor Anne Moran said it was scandalous that the council was being asked to cut down historic trees because of encroachment on the parklands.

But today both Government and senior members of the council said there was nothing to stop the 2.8km extension from West Tce proceeding and the project had the support of the full council.

The Government’s chief of major projects Rod Hook said the Government had road widening approval for the project and there were a few trees which would have to go.

But, he said, the Premier had pledged that for every tree taken out he would plant 100 new trees.

Mr Hook said he had been to meetings of the Adelaide Parklands Authority and they had passed a resolution supporting the project.

“So have the full Council of the Adelaide City Council, the City of Charles Sturt, so has the City of West Torrens,” he said.

“There was a suggestion we should put the tramline in the centre of the road, well thats exactly what the proposal is.

“We have actually located a bike path in the parklands at the request of both the Parklands Authority and the council so weve taken that out of the road pavement and put a separate bike path in the parklands.”

Councillor Ralph Clarke said he could understand there might be some confusion but the full council had voted overwhelmingly in support of the tram extension.

He said he did not know why the Development Assessment Panel had taken the decision they did.

“The panel consists of four city councillors and five independent members and they have to give a recommendation to the Development Assessment Commission which is a State Government body,” Mr Clarke said.

“The council is not anti development, were not anti the tramline.”

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