Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
TO: adelaide@parliament.sa.gov.au
SUBJECT: Crown and Anchor Hotel
BODY:
Dear Lucy Hood MP,
We call on you to protect the 171-year-old Crown and Anchor Hotel (aka ‘The Cranker’) from demolition.
Specifically, we request that Minister Nick Champion urgently implement a policy in line with Recommendation 12 of the Planning System Implementation Review by separating the assessment of heritage-listed places from the PDI Act.
This policy must also ensure proper cultural and heritage preservation until legislative changes can be passed.
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Say something personalise your letter here. Feel free to pluck some details from your SCAP proposal.
If you do not have a 5000 postcode, please include a short something about how the CBD factors into your life. No need to overthink it.
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Our reasonable ask is for you to lobby Minister Nick Champion, to quickly develop and implement a policy in line with Recommendation 12 of the government endorsed, Planning System Implementation Review that places a moratorium on any SCAP-approved development of heritage listed places from the PDI act. This ensures proper cultural and heritage preservation until legislative changes can be passed by parliament. Additionally, a policy for interim protection of heritage listed places while they make the required legislative change needs to be enacted.
As one of a handful of Adelaide’s remaining pubs that have operated continuously since before 1860 and as a beacon of vibrancy in the cultural hub of the CBD, the Crown & Anchor Hotel deserves recognition and preservation as a significant building.
The Cranker has considerable cultural and heritage value for the city. The Cranker is one of the few commercially successful live music venues Adelaide has left. It is one of the best small-to-mid-sized live music venues and hangouts in Adelaide’s CBD and one of the few viable venues Adelaide has left (Adelaide has just lost 15 venues in 15 months). It’s a pub with a healthy and diverse clientele (including university students). For over 30 years, it has continued to thrive when so many others struggle or fail, and publican, Tom Skipper, wishes to continue trading indefinitely so the pub’s future would be secure… if not for the threat of the development.
With 3000 people taking part in the recent Save Our Cranker rally and almost 25,000 public petition signatures collected—a number equivalent to an entire electorate—it is clear this is not just a local issue. It is a significant electoral concern across the state that highlights the community's demand for a government that prioritises cultural values over unchecked development in the city. Your support can galvanise public opinion and demonstrate Labor’s leadership in integrating community needs with our state’s development objectives.
It is vital that our government play its role in preserving the unique character that venues like the Crown and Anchor bring to, not only our community, but Adelaide itself as a city. Adelaide cannot hope to hold on to the title of UNESCO City of Music if it is willing to allow the loss of successful cornerstone venues like the Crown & Anchor. The Cranker is not just one of the city's live music venues, it is a key live music venue.
This is a pivotal moment for the Labor Party to step forward and advocate for the preservation of a vital cultural institution. By supporting government intervention to save the Crown and Anchor, you affirm that the Labor Party places the interests of the community, the interests of your constituents, at the heart of its policies.
The Cranker is a shining example of an existing and thriving cultural asset and a key contributor to our city’s vibrancy. Vibrancy of a city is not quantifiable; it is an element upon which culture, population, and economics work in tandem.
We are realistic. We strongly support the concept of student accommodation and support the growth of population density. However, we utterly reject the argument that we must develop no matter the cost. Intelligent and sustainable city planning recognises the need for development to be in complement with its vibrancy, heritage, and cultural assets. An evolving city's character is in how it balances the past, present, and future.
We also welcome international students. May we remind you that the Crown & Anchor Hotel has been a staple hangout and strong and stable draw for uni students for over 30 years. Many international students to the present day discuss the Crown & Anchor Hotel as a place where they first felt welcome, made friends, practised English and accrued cultural capital to start to feel like they belonged in South Australia.
Each generation has defining decisions to make when it comes to iconic places in our city; we lost the Jubilee Exhibition Building, we tore down the stunning Grand Central Hotel for a carpark, but we saved Edmund Wright House.
This Government should be able to look back on its legacy and say with pride that it stood up and defended one of our city’s great music institutions, rather than standing idly by, despite the significant public outcry.
What we are asking for is not new, nor are we asking for something that you do not support. The incorporation of public houses into the original design for the City of Adelaide is not an afterthought, and the loss of these spaces has a direct impact on the cultural possibilities within the space.
What we are asking for is simply that you act on this immediately to inhibit a current development proposal that is not in-line with the government’s, or community’s, expectations. Not acting now will result in an irreversible outcome.
Thank you for considering this call to action. Your leadership is crucial in ensuring that our heritage and planning laws and government actions reflect the collective will of the people and preserve the cultural landmarks that define our city.
Please lend your support to this cultural landmark and help us ensure that our city's development does not come at the cost of its soul.
Sincerely,
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