BRENDAN SIMPKINS
PUBLIC consultation will soon commence on a plan to give entrance points into Gawler a facelift.
Elected members voted last Tuesday to put the Draft Gawler Beautification Plan out for public consultation which will see upgrades to the seven entrance points into town.
The plan will focus on creating an appealing welcome to visitors who enter Gawler, enhancing the tidiness and character of the town.
Upgrades would be done to entrances at the southern and northern end of Main North Road, Barossa Valley Way, Calton Road, Redbanks Road, Ryde Street and Riggs Hill Road.
Roundabouts at Sixth Avenue and Main North Road, Jack Cooper Drive and Ryde Street and Calton Road and High Street, among others, would also be in line for upgrades.
This would be achieved through the planting of trees, vegetation management and possible statement entrance signs.
The report was first presented at the Infrastructure and Environmental Services Committee on December 8, which recommended that the plan be adopted as presented.
However, Councillor Ian Tooley moved an amendment to put the plan out for consultation first before its adoption.
Put on the table at the December 16 ordinary council meeting, the recommendation was carried unanimously by councillors.
Cr Paul Koch had concerns about the plan, with discussions failing to take place between administration and the Department of Infrastructure and Transport before the plan’s release for public consultation.
Sections of the land surrounding the entrances are maintained by the Department.
“By not speaking to DIT beforehand to look at what they think is appropriate or not appropriate, we are not actually looking at what the overall maintenance costs will be,” Cr Koch said.
“I would think as soon as we start putting any landscape on their land that they manage, we would have to maintain it.
“We have to take that into consideration.”
Cr Koch also held concerns around the long-term viability of selected tree species that would be planted.
Cr Nathan Shanks described the plan as council’s “bread and butter” and hoped that community engagement would be high during consultation.
“We have a lot of plans that we work through but this one is the one to nail, this is the one that’s going to set us in the direction to make sure we deliver some entrance statements that our community wants,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Brian Sambell expressed the importance of the community’s input in the plan.
“This is the time now for the Gawler community to come in with their ideas, attend workshops that we will have and I am sure that we can make Gawler a very beautiful place to feel proud to live in,” he said.