Craig was nominated as a high achiever by Charles Sturt Mayor Kristen Alexander for taking up the challenge as Acting General Manager, City Services shortly after joining Council. “He did a fantastic job and has the support of both elected members and the community. As Manager Urban Projects he has lead projects including the establishment of the Western Business Leaders Group and the formation of several business associations in partnership with Council.”
Craig has been with the City of Charles Sturt for 18 months. Having graduated with a Social Science degree and business qualifications, he has spent 15 years in senior management at Tea Gully, Mt Barker and Unley Councils. He also worked with the then Land Management Corporation before coming to Charles Sturt.
Charles Sturt is a diverse community by way of land use and ethnicity, home to 106,000 people and several thousand businesses. It connects the west parklands and CBD at Bowden and includes 15 kilometres of coast from Henley to Semaphore South. It is home to great sporting assets like the Adelaide Crows, Adelaide United, the 36ers and Royal Adelaide and Grange Golf Clubs, important industry like OI Glass, Hills industry, Toro Irrigation and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, plus some iconic entertainment venues such as the Entertainment Centre and the Governor Hindmarsh. Increasingly important urban developments such as Bowden Village, St Clair and the Square at Woodville West and the redevelopment of AAMI Stadium are driving investment and opportunity in Charles Sturt.
As Manager of Urban Projects, Craig says he is fortunate to have the role of guiding Council growth through planning policy and economic development while working closely with communities, State Government and developers to ensure what is delivered meets the Council’s and community’s expectations.
Whether this is in responding to developers’ master plans or concepts, negotiating infrastructure or through Council as ‘master developer’ as is the case at Woodville Road or Henley Beach, collaboration and shared desire for a better outcome is an essential ingredient.
Negotiating shared outcomes, meeting with residents and communities who are passionate about the area but may feel disenfranchised by change and then together finding some good ways forward – this is the brokerage role Craig enjoys. He says he likes being ‘in the middle of it all’ and finding solutions. “While I have been involved a lot in planning, transport and civil engineering ultimately it is all about community development.”
Some of the challenges Craig faces are: getting the State Government to value the local perspective while getting the local perspective to understand the State imperatives; working with funding and legislative constraints that are at times counter intuitive to getting a better outcome and finding a flexible solution; and the time it takes to get to the end point.
Key projects include Woodville Road revitalisation, residential streetscape and character enhancement, main road corridors mixed use re-zonings, Bowden Urban Village and St Clair and Western Business Leaders, Woodville Road and Henley Trader and Property Associations, and the Economic Development Strategy. Major achievements over the past 18 months have been the Digital Economy and Economic Development Strategy, the Strategic Direction Report that guides future development and importantly creating a great working relationship between the Urban Services Team, other departments, the Mayor and elected members and the many and varied stakeholders including resident groups, developers, Renewal SA and Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure.
