Long road for Light Square upgrade
A petition against the Adelaide City Council’s plans to upgrade Light Square/Wauwi has garnered more than 800 signatures.
Councillor Henry Davis submitted a petition, which he said has 814 signatures, against the council’s Light Square plans at last night’s meeting.
This comes after the council’s consultation on their master plan closed, with 231 submissions from residents, stakeholders and organisations that trade in the area.
The petition, which Davis said was created by the owners of Lime Square café, demanded “an immediate halt to the progress of the Light Square Master Plan due to serious concerns regarding financial transparency, traffic disruptions, economic harm to local businesses, inadequate consultation and the lack of alternative transport solutions”.
“A lot of the negative things about this proposal was not explained to our ratepayers,” Davis said.
Davis created an Instagram video with the Adelaide Set, a self-described right-wing source of “politics, news and freedom”, to promote the petition to “save Light Square”.
The council’s public consultation presented two options for the Light Square revamp, which was originally revealed in July last year. Both options would remove:
- The left-hand turn from Morphett Street into Waymouth Street
- The slip lane from Morphett Street heading north and into the TAFE carpark
- The exit from Philip Street to Morphett Street
Under the council’s plans, the western side of the square would. be greener, and car-free. 79 per cent of council survey respondents were in favour of option one. This picture: City of Adelaide
Option one would relocate car movement from Morphett Street to the eastern side of the square, and replace road crossings and pavement with green space.
Option 1 would relocate traffic while option 2 would retain traffic in the council’s plans so far. This picture: City of Adelaide.
Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said last week she was “gobsmacked” by the support, with 90 per cent of people surveyed by the council in favour of changing the square.
Davis’ bid to halt the plans for the reasons in the petition failed, with only four councillors voting for the Light Square plans to be paused.
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Councillor Carmel Noon, who voted against Davis’ bid to halt the plans, said the next step is a traffic analysis which has the potential to change the outcome anyway.
“This is absurd,” Noon said.
“I live in that area, I received the same phone calls and emails [from concerned residents] and I’ve been able to sort them out.
“At the end of the day, these people have been misled by what’s been fed to the media.”
A council spokesperson told InDaily the master planning for Light Square is at an early stage.
They said the council’s commitment for this financial year is to “progress the concept design, consultation, safety and traffic assessment to inform future options for increasing tree canopy, green spaces and the safety of the square”.
“Further opportunities for consultation with the community, business and stakeholders will be subject to future decisions by the council on the project”.
This year, the council will spend $250,000 on the detailed design of priority elements of Light Square. The total cost of the square upgrade has not yet been determined.
When asked in the debate how long the plans would be delayed if Davis’ motion had gotten up, Lomax-Smith said it was a scheduling difficulty.
“I think the difficulty is scheduling because we have a packed agenda, if you think that Pitt Street took seven years and four consultations, I think we’re on track for this for about 2036,” Lomax-Smith said.
The petition against the Light Square plan will be assessed by the council and brought back to its next meeting on February 25.