Jim Emmett

2014 candidate for Adelaide Hills Council.
Heritage survey responses.

What do you think Council's role is in protecting and conserving heritage?
Register of historically significant/heritage precincts, buildings, features and infrastructure in the Adelaide Hills Council area. Manage appropriately heritage assets as above which are in their care or ownership. Planning processes which protect heritage values whilst allowing sympathetic additions or alterations to suit sustainable modern uses. Provide heritage advisory services to advise and support owners of heritage assets in their custodianship of those assets and in meeting any relevant regulatory obligations.
What measures and incentives do you support to protect and conserve local heritage?
The application of measures listed above are best administered through the development planning process. Staff should be specifically trained to enact any authority in a manner which shows respect for the owners of heritage properties, on the understanding owners most usually highly value their custodianship and meet significant costs in doing so. Development applications involving significant heritage considerations should be free of application fees and the services of a heritage architect should be free of charge. Where appropriate and within budget considerations, significant additional expense incurred in meeting a wider community heritage benefit or interest, provision should be made for funding assistance of some form.
What is the most important heritage protection issue in your local government area?
Appropriate heritage register and strategic plan for heritage precincts, buildings and features. Competent and sympathetic enactment of planning processes and development applications involving heritage assets.
What policies and programs will you advocate to protect and conserve heritage in your local area?
See 5 & 6 above
Do you support local Councils retaining development approval powers for projects over $3m in value?
Yes and no. Councils need to show they can make decisions objectively and with a grasp of wider and long term issues. This is easier said than done, however the alternative proposal is as much unproven. The difficulty is always in the detail between too restrictive or too easily manipulated, irrespective of where the decision is made.
Do you have any other thoughts about the protection of heritage in your Council area?
The Adelaide Hills is rich in heritage assets, and this can lead to short term complacency over what builds historical significance. Recently, the Council themselves initiated the demolition of a historically significant staircase at Mount Lofty Railway Station, showing very little appreciation of what creates a heritage precinct. I am custodian for three significant heritage buildings in the Hills. I know the owners are our greatest asset in the future of heritage buildings, but they are shown little trust and respect in that role. Councils have a lot to learn ....