Newsletter - April 2026 (2)

This is the second April 2026 newsletter for the St Peters Residents Association, representing the Residents of St Peters, College Park, Hackney, Stepney, Maylands, Evandale & Joslin.

The newsletter is available as a PDF for downloading and printing.

Contents

Items that we hope you will find of interest include: -

St Peters Heroes Memorial

Membership subscriptions for 2026 were due for renewal by 31st December.
Please refer to the membership page.

ANZAC Day at Dawn - St Peters Heroes Memorial

For a number of years local residents have informally gathered at dawn at the St Peters Heroes Memorial on St Peters Street.

While there is no formal service at the memorial, those gathered appreciate the peace of the dawn and the carolling of the magpies as they reflect on the meaning of the day.

Local Councillors Kester Moorhouse and Rita Excell will be laying a wreath on behalf of the local community, before the playing of a recording of the Ode of Remembrance, and the Last Post.

Come and join us at 6.15am on Saturday.

Bring your coffee.
Bring a chair.
Bring a sprig of rosemary or a floral tribute.
Bring your family & friends.

SPRA 2026 Annual General Meeting Report

The 54th AGM of the Association was held on the 4th March.

President Mathew Pole presented the Committee report for 2025.

The following committee was elected for 2026:

President Mathew Pole
Vice President David Cree
Secretary / Public Officer Joan Sedsman
Treasurer / Membership Anne Bowman
Committee Members Paul Ensor, Angus Redford, Evonne Moore, Cat Williams, Marysia Marchant, Thien Hong, Andrew Tarca

Town Hall Candidate Forum for the State Seat of Dunstan

The St Peters Residents Association, in conjunction with the Residents Associations of Norwood, Kent Town, and Kensington, and the Maylands Evandale Stepney Community Network Group, held very successful Town Hall Candidates Forum in the leadup to the State Election for the voters in the seat of Dunstan on the 4th March.

Almost 200 people attended to hear the election pitches of Cressida O’Hanlon (ALP), Anna Finizio (LP), Christel Mex (Greens), and Ian McBryde (Ind). All other candidates declined the invitation to attend.
The questions to the candidates after their presentations were mostly to the point and related to State issues.
SPRA congratulates Cressida O’Hanlon on her re-election as our local member, and we look forward to her continuing advocacy for the electorate.

Council Budget 2026-27

The Council is currently deliberating on the budget for 2026-27

The draft budget for 2026/27, which will be further considered in early May, proposes a rate revenue increase of 7% on last year, and the reduction or deferral of a number of operating and capital projects.

The draft budget was discussed at the 7th April 2026 Council Meeting. The proposed rate rise is 7%, in an election year, when the budget assumes a 3% increase in costs. The budget will be in deficit for at least the next two years and the Net Financial Liabilities Ratio remain well above the 100% upper limit. The ESCOSA ‘Local Government Advice’ for NPSP Council contains 10 recommendations including:

“Consider providing more clarity around the risks and the impact on rates (and develop mitigation strategies) if the Council’s expectations regarding its operational performance do not materialise and/or its financial strategy becomes stressed.”

However, to achieve this, the Parade Master Plan has been moved from "New Capital Projects Expenditure" to "Capital Renewal Program". This financial manipulation means that $30 million less will be available for maintenance and replacement of other assets over the next 3 years. ESCOSA ‘Local Government Advice’ had this to say on page 21:

“The cost of asset renewal and replacement averaged $8.1 million per annum over the Historical Period and is planned to cost $16.4 million over the Forecast Period, indicating that the Council will need to double its renewal spending compared to its Historical Period to ensure it adequately maintains its growing infrastructure asset base.”

The above statement was made by ESCOSA prior to council’s proposal to include The Parade Master Plan in the “asset renewal and replacement” budget and it will add further risk to council being unable to maintain existing assets.

Residents have commented on items like the lack of maintenance at the Adey Reserve playground at Firle. This budget will further reduce the funds available for urgent works.

Council has exercised some restraint in spending. However, this restraint appears to be driven by the need to not breach the covenant with the Local Government Finance Authority (LGFA).

Of concern is the decision to spend $6 million on a gym at the Payneham Memorial Swimming Centre, pushing the total cost to at least $70 million. The argument is that income from gym memberships will cover the forecast $1 million annual operating loss of the pool. This begs the question: "Why was the gym not included as part of the original project or was the gym purposely excluded to keep the initial price lower, knowing that it would need to be included later?"

The draft budget will be available for public consultation with a public meeting following the May Council meeting, and will be adopted by Council in June. SPSA will be making a submission during the consultation period and will provide more details in a future newsletter.

We urge residents to read the draft budget, discuss it with your councillors and submit a response during the May’s consultation period.

Stronger Tree Protection Legislation

South Australia’s tree protection legislation has recently been further strengthened, closing an important loophole.

Following sustained community pressure, South Australia’s Planning & Design Code was amended in May 2024. New tree protection policies meant that most native tree species were protected provided

  1. They had a circumference larger than 1 (previously 2m) for a Regulated Tree and 2m (previously 3m) for a Significant Tree; and
  2. They were more than 3m (previously 10m) from a dwelling or in-ground swimming pool

However, there was a loop hole.

The legislation was not clear whether that 3m radius could extend across land boundaries. So effectively a developer wanting to remove an otherwise protected tree growing on the property boundary could use a neighbour’s dwelling or swimming pool as an excuse to cut down the tree – without consulting the neighbour.

From November 2025 the legislation was clarified. Now it is explicit that for the 3m rule to apply, the dwelling or pool must be on the same property as the tree.

Slowly, slowly, we are getting much needed better protection for our urban tree canopy.

Unley Tree Strategy

Unley Council has approached the State Government with a proposal to impose a higher Council rate on private properties where new development has reduced tree cover. Unley Council is seeking government support for this proposal which would/could allow that Council to accumulate sufficient funds to buy land in order to plant trees.

SPRA has written to Mayor Bria and the Elected Members to ask our Council to support Unley’s proposal, as this could possibly help to tackle our ongoing net tree loss.

Quartzite Laid Too Close to Tree Trunks

In a positive move our Council resolved in 2023 not to use alkaline grey dolomite as fill on nature strips, and to use quartzite instead. At the same time, it brought in a policy that no hard fill such as quartzite be laid closer than one metre on either side of existing street trunks, newly planted trees, or verge renewals, as part of any road, gutter or footpath works. This is to ensure that street trees receive adequate rainfall to their roots and so that tree roots can exchange gases with the atmosphere. This is a good policy and much better than many councils have.

Recently new gutters were laid in Henry Street Stepney/Maylands, and contractors finished up by laying quartzite up to the trunks of seven street trees. SPRA has written to Council to ask that the details of the existing policy be included in contracts for private contractors and for the excess quartzite to be moved away from these affected street tree trunks.

NPSP Tree Canopy Action Group

Life here is beautiful!

We live under the canopy of green trees big and tall, with birdsong in our ears and gardens full of flowers, fluttering butterflies and buzzing bees. Over time though, progressively more street trees are suffering due to heat and lack of rainfall. Because they are not getting the supplementary water they need to flourish, their health is deteriorating and so too is the health of our shade-and-cool giving canopy.

To enable more street trees to be watered, the NPSP Tree Canopy Action Group was formed. Currently, Council’s watering program is only for newly planted street trees during their first three years in the ground, at a cost of $5k per tree. For other watering, Council is relying on community support. Given that community support is low, and that, in any case, many trees are not accessible to willing community members, this approach is not benefiting us with a flourishing tree canopy.

Expanding the current watering program will extend our trees’ lives and reduce Council’s costs. The need to plant new trees and to replace both new and older trees will also be reduced.

But before expansion can properly occur, Council must action Strategy 1.1 of its Tree Strategy 2022-27, which is to implement a street tree audit. An audit will tell us which trees will benefit us with canopy if watered, and which ones won’t. The council website has more about Urban Tree Canopy Cover

Together, SPRA and the NPSP Tree Canopy Action Group (Facebook) are doing what they can to ensure that Strategy 1.1 is budgeted for in 2026-27.

Update - St Peters Billabong Access and Encroachments

At the recent April Council meeting, Cr Kester Moorehouse moved that a report be prepared into the feasibility of relocating recently installed fence that now blocks public access to the top of the billabong bank adjacent to River Street, St Peters. The motion was passed 9-4, with Cr Callisto, Cr Duke, Cr Knoblauch and Cr Robinson voting against seeking a report. The motion was amended from "an independent report" to "WSP be engaged".

Dr Phil Bagust (Friends of the Billabong), Ms Joan Sedsman (SPRA) and Ms Katherine Goode presented deputations. The SPRA deputation is online.

SPRA will be closely watching the outcome in the hope that common sense prevails.

NPSP Ward Changes for November Council Elections

Council elections are due to be held in November this year.

Local Councils are required to review the elected member numbers and ward structure every eight years. Following a review, in 2024 the NPSP Council decided to reduce the number of councillors by two to eleven and the number of wards to four. These new ward boundaries will apply for the coming election of Councillors and Mayor.

Ward Suburbs Councillors
St Peters / Kent Town Joslin, St Peters, Hackney, Kent Town 2
Trinity / Maylands Stepney, Evandale, Maylands, Trinity Gardens, Payneham South, Firle, St Morris 3
Payneham / Felixstow Royston Park, Marden, Felixstow, Glynde 3
Kensington / Norwood Norwood, Kensington, Marryatville, Heathpool 3

Facebook Page

SPRA now has a Facebook page where some matters will be posted and where you can leave comments on items that have been posted.

Please follow on your Facebook app.

Please remember to renew your membership if you haven't already done so.