Proposed Soccer Pitches in Belair National Park

[beardless]

Belair National Park in the Adelaide Hills was established in 1891 as the second national park in Australia after Royal National Park near Sydney.

There are a number of ovals and tennis courts in the park as well as areas of high conservation value.

In the 1930s a public golf course was opened in a corner of the park. The golf course was abandoned by the lease holder a few years back. Around and between the fairways are native vegetation including threatened and protected grey box woodland.

There are currently proposals to rezone the area and also to dedicate 10 hectares of this area to a soccer club to construct seven proposed soccer pitches (with associated carparks, clubrooms, floodlights) with a footprint which has over 500 native trees and is habitat for kangaroos, koalas and many birds. There are also proposals for revegetation of some of the old fairways.

If anyone is interested here is a link to some details about the proposal along with the opportunity (until 4 May 2021) to make submissions as part of the consultation process: https://yoursay.sa.gov.au/discussions/b ... b-precinct

There is also Belair National Park Redevelopment Action Group on facebook with over 1300 members who oppose high impact development of the area including opposing the proposed soccer pitches and associated development: https://facebook.com/groups/989041924955879

[beardless]

Looks like the link with details and an opportunity to provide comments and respond to a survey as part of the consultation process no longer works. Try this one instead:
https://legacy.yoursay.sa.gov.au/discus ... b-precinct

[beardless]

Large developments off the table at former Belair Golf Course as 'rug pulled out' from soccer club
ABC Radio Adelaide / By Malcolm Sutton
Posted Yesterday at 2:34pm

Large-scale proposals of any kind have been ruled out for a contentious section of the country's second oldest national park, as South Australia's Environment Minister narrows his scope for the unused land.

Key points:
The former Belair Golf Course closed in 2018 and the land has been left in limbo since
A draft master plan for several soccer pitches at the site drew strong opposition from the local community
Only low impact acitivities such as mountain bike riding and walking trails will now be considered for the site

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-07/ ... /100124052

[beardless]

Photo from the former golf course in Belair National Park.

Here is a the Conservation SA Arboricultural Report about the area

https://www.conservationsa.org.au/belair_tree_report

[GregR]

Thanks Beardless. Good news indeed.

I didn't see your posts last week as I was busy walking and riding around Adelaide- including a very nice stroll around Belair.

I thought that any further development here would be a disaster. Mercifully not it seems. Whoo Hoo.

Interesting that the sign at the Railway station sort of indicates that when this park was first opened as the First National Park in SA, maybe they were not sure that a second would ever happen! we should be eternally grateful for these far sighted individuals from the 19th Century.

[beardless]

Good news indeed.

... we should be eternally grateful for these far sighted individuals from the 19th Century.

Yes indeed

[ZoeBurgess]

It's a good project. Especially when it comes to sports. I have long dreamed of teaching my son to play cricket. It's a game to develop tactical thinking, not particularly agile, but more requiring of players marksmanship, coordination of movements, and a sense of excitement. I think the child will be interested in playing this game. In contrast to the mass and popular sports (such as soccer, hockey, or basketball), there are very few clubs to teach the game of croquet to children, and recruiting is from 7 years. On ozfooty.net, I read stories of parents teaching their kids how to play.