SA Footy

Charles Sturt Council wants to demolish the St Clair complex for Housing
A group of discerned people are attempting to stop this


The council has stated one of the reasons for the proposed housing is its close proximity to the Woodville railway line
Protestors are claiming its a nostalgic area and must stay

The council wants to relocate the present complex to the area vacated by Actil


Who is right ?

I grew up in the area and indeed have an interest in proceedings

The St Clair Reserve needs a bulldozer ASAP it has potential to be really good but alas it is suffering old age badly. I suspect the real reason behind the plan is to get more open space to the Actil/Cheltenham development and they save themselves some cash by not having to shift the Woodville station and let the developers rebuild the reserve at their own expense. Government outlays zilch and Happy Days

what a venue St Clair

it has seen some memorable innings played out down there in the nets

Mal, taxi pete, the great Don and myself have all graced the hollow turf

I will definately get a grass clipping if they close it down

Wow, I think my dad was either on the board down there when it opened or was responsible (in part) for it's creation.

I'll have to let him know about this, thanks folks.

Would be good to keep
but if it is to be moved to the actil site, i dont see a huge problem
they will get new and better facilities!

originally I thought they were just gonna get rid of it but since there is a replacement then I dont see it being a huge problem!

I don't see the problem as it's a piece of land. The people against the change say the land is full of bad chemicals and don't want their kids playing there. The current venue down the road from me, needs an upgrade and the new venue, around the corner, does that.

MightyEagles wrote:I don't see the problem as it's a piece of land. The people against the change say the land is full of bad chemicals and don't want their kids playing there. The current venue down the road from me, needs an upgrade and the new venue, around the corner, does that.

I am confident that the council (I worked for them for 12 months of so) would not put their citizens at risk by slapping a park on a contaminated site. I think it's a win win personally, no loss of land and an upgrade to facilities for free.

I think there might be a few people in and around that area that are still feeling a bit precious after the Cheltenham race course development (which again I think the Council was in the right over, but that's another can of worms!), and see this as an extension of that 'loss' of open space.

Below is something I posted on Adelaide Now a few weeks ago regarding St Clair, maybe I wasnt controversial enough with what I said because it didnt seem to get any comments in the 130 odd that were up.......

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As a resident of the City of Charles Sturt for all but the past year of my 33 on the planet, I was quite surprised when I read of the proposed land swap, just as i was disappointed to see the demise of Cheltenham Racecourse (mainly because it was within walking distance of home). As a kid i played at the park, I was there on a stinking hot day in 1984 when Glynis Nunn opened the drive through the park in her name, during my years at Woody High i played sport on the ovals and since then have walked my dog around the park, taken refuge from the sun when ive been out walking or riding under the Moreton Bay Fig tree and have seen the same gentlemen play Bocce on Sunday afternoons for as long as i can remember....but thats all sentimental.

In reality the whole Woodville Road precinct looks tired, with careful development it could become vibrant, over the years the banks have all closed, the post office moved to Port Rd, many of the other businesses have closed, and the area around the railway station is drab ... it could be so much better! Perhaps thats why whenever I go past or through the park it is never packed with people, just the regulars going for a run or walking their dogs, does that comes back to the lack of decent facilities? The plans for the new area look fantastic, the new oval and cricket pitches will replace only what will be taken away but we need to look forward not back, not just in Woodville but for the state in general.

I agree with the residents and their concerns.

Governments of all three tiers have a habit of promising the world and not delivering.

Solution:

Prior to the sell off of land , the new facilities are to be completely built and funded by the state government/Charles Sturt.

Upon completion, the existing site is made available for development.

I think the residents would sign off on that.

However with the bio remediation required on the existing industrial site this could take 3-5 years.

Memories lads
Played a game of footy there in the 80s
I asked the coach to play me on the wing that day and got my way
The reason I wanted to play wing that day ?
I had my mate on the boundary with a tranny so I could listen to the hurdle race

In very recent times MT79/Donny and Taxi Pete and I have had net sessions at the great ground

In the late 70s I actually had my first training session with Woodville Cricket club
I can still recall bowling at John Nason, the coach
Had him bamboozled with my leggies, some 30 odd years later I bamboozled MT79 with my MALsra

Ego tripping here a bit, but how can you pinch those memories

I also was a Woody HS student and spent many arvos kicking a footy and having a hit there
And roller skating
And playing Pimball there
And.....

The memories
Itsa public place

Losing that is losing part of my childhood

From my understanding St. Clair recreation centre will remain.

Is this correct?

Yep, in a nutshell the council wants to build homes on the current park and move the park to the yet to be determined "safe" land that Actil was on.

So, homes on nice park, park on shitty industrial land.

Booney wrote:Yep, in a nutshell the council wants to build homes on the current park and move the park to the yet to be determined "safe" land that Actil was on.

So, homes on nice park, park on shitty industrial land.

Yes the plan looks reasonable only if the government makes sure the former industrial land is promptly and properly cleaned up first.
Private contractors, or the government, could be inclined to let it slide afterwards, given the chance to save the money after the profits have been made.

Psyber wrote:

Booney wrote:Yep, in a nutshell the council wants to build homes on the current park and move the park to the yet to be determined "safe" land that Actil was on.

So, homes on nice park, park on shitty industrial land.

Yes the plan looks reasonable only if the government makes sure the former industrial land if promptly and properly cleaned up first.
Private contractors, or the government, could be inclined to let it slide afterwards, given the chance to save the money after the profits have been made.

The operative word, "profit".

I had my second sexual encounter at St Clair between the Eastern goals and Woodville Road
There was also a lovers lane where the present cricket nets are near the railway line where you take shielas after picking them up at the Findon Hotel

1975 was exciting after the WHS school social, I took my date to St Clair after and we pashed for about 2 hours

As Mary Hopkins once harmonised
""Those were the days.""

Save St Clair I say

mal wrote:I had my second sexual encounter at St Clair between the Eastern goals and Woodville Road
There was also a lovers lane where the present cricket nets are near the railway line where you take shielas after picking them up at the Findon Hotel

1975 was exciting after the WHS school social, I took my date to St Clair after and we pashed for about 2 hours

As Mary Hopkins once harmonised
""Those were the days.""

Save St Clair I say

When did you decide the time was right to include a second person in these "encounters" ?

mal wrote:I had my second sexual encounter at St Clair between the Eastern goals and Woodville Road

... and you enjoyed it so much that the next time you invited a bird to join you there?

(edit) Booney beat me to it

mal wrote:I had my second sexual encounter at St Clair between the Eastern goals and Woodville Road

I hope you washed your hands afterwards mal

mal wrote:I had my second sexual encounter at St Clair between the Eastern goals and Woodville Road
There was also a lovers lane where the present cricket nets are near the railway line where you take shielas after picking them up at the Findon Hotel

1975 was exciting after the WHS school social, I took my date to St Clair after and we pashed for about 2 hours

As Mary Hopkins once harmonised
""Those were the days.""

Save St Clair I say

When I was at WHS the Deputy Head used to check Cheltenham Cemetery after the school socials as part of his regular duties..

And now weve got the Minister for the Southern Suburbs looking at it - Woodville, south of what ? Salisbury