Magazine - Adelaide Oval Upgrade Hits Snag

By Editor in A.F.L on 22nd Mar 2010 21:55

The seat of Adelaide may prevent a third-term Rann government delivering on one of its key promises: upgrading Adelaide Oval so that AFL football can be played in the city centre. 

The 14 per cent-plus swing the Liberals achieved in toppling Rann frontbencher and former lord mayor Jane Lomax-Smith has seriously rattled the silverware in the Adelaide City Council, a vital partner for Rann's proposal to go ahead. Rann needs the council to deliver carparking space in the parklands surrounding Adelaide Oval.

Without it, the plan to transform the famous cricket ground into a 60,000-seat stadium doesn't fly. To date the council has been understandably twitchy. The parklands are a much-prized local amenity and the idea that large swaths of it should become an off-limits bog for half the year because thousands of football supporters need parking is no easy sell. Saturday's vote against Lomax-Smith will scare the daylights out of the council and harden the resistance.

Confronted with a similar problem in 2008 when the council refused permission for a new grandstand in the parklands for horse racing and motor events, Rann dropped the proposal.

Source & More: www.theaustralian.com.au

Read more articles in A.F.L, by Editor or from March 2010.