In November 2025, SA’s Department for Infrastructure and Transport started rolling out 40 km/h time-based speed limits on roads near schools that otherwise have speed limits of 50 km/h or higher. This project, which will improve children’s safety when they travel to and from school, is co-funded by the Road Safety Program (50:50 funded by the Federal and State governments over 3 years) and the road safety component of SA’s 2024–2025 State Budget. The change will bring South Australia in line with other states, which already enforce lower speed limits for school crossings on all arterial and high-volume council roads.

Kensington Road outside Marryatville High School was one of the first locations to have new speed limit signage installed.  The 40 km/h speed limit applies on school days 8:00-9:30am and 2:00-4:00 pm, this excludes weekends, public holidays and school holidays. Look for the digital signs next time you travel along Kensington Road and familiarise yourself with the boundaries of the reduced speed zone.

Vehicle speeds are being monitored on Kensington Road. Penalties including fines and demerit points are applied if drivers exceed the 40km/h limit on school days between 8:00-9:30am and 2:00-4:00pm.

Existing ‘25 km/h when children present’ school zone speed limits will not change.  To learn more about the 40km/h School Speed Limits project, click here.

Throughout 2025 the Kensington Residents’ Association endeavoured to prevent the demolition of the local heritage-listed building at 69 High Street, which was the first Kensington Elementary School, dating back to the 1840s. The Council Assessment Panel (CAP) rejected the demolition application, but on appeal to the Environment, Resources and Development Court, the owners of the building were granted approval to demolish.

The KRA and concerned individuals made submissions at the first hearing, appealing to the CAP to refuse the demolition application. The decision was delayed to allow the owners time to seek additional engineering advice.

Significant research was undertaken by KRA members and local history experts, uncovering the rich history of the modest building at 69 High Street. Fearing local heritage status would be insufficient to protect the building from demolition, the KRA prepared a State Heritage Listing application for 69 High Street. The many reasons why this building is worthy of inclusion on the State Heritage Register are documented in the application, which can be downloaded by clicking here.

When the CAP met to reassess the owners’ application to demolish the building, no additional information was presented by the owners, rather a lawyer and engineer were engaged to argue the demolition case. The KRA was excluded from making further comments and presenting the results of thorough historic research for the CAP to consider. Nonetheless, to the delight of the KRA the CAP refused to permit demolition of 69 High Street.

However, late in 2025 the owner appealed to the Environment, Resources and Development Court to review the CAP decision. The KRA was excluded from participating in the appeal process which was held “in confidence”. On 18th December the owners of 69 High Street were granted approval to demolish the unique, historic building on their property.

The KRA is bitterly disappointed in the decision facilitated by the ERD Court. Apart from encouraging the owner to sell the local heritage-listed property to a renovator who respects heritage value, there appears to be nothing more that we can do to save this building. Another link to the colonial history of Kensington and South Australia will be lost.

Better protection for local heritage places – such as 69 High Street – under the Planning and Design Code has been under consideration by the State Government for the almost three years:

March 2023: Expert Panel for the Planning System final report and recommendations released. Recommendation 15 under ‘Minor and Operational Recommendations” is to refine Performance Outcome 6.1 in the Local Heritage Place Overlay to exclude deterioration due to neglect as a supporting factor for demolition, as in the State Heritage place Overlay (p. 225)

March 2024: Government response to the Expert Panel recommendations released. In reference to Reform 15, “The Government supports this recommendation” (p. 54)

June 2025: Expert Panel Implementation Program quarterly report. In reference to Reform 15, “Proposed through Assessment Improvements Code Amendment. Determination pack under review” (p. 19). (No further quarterly reports are available online.)

Friday 19 December 2025: The “Assessment Improvements Code Amendment” is finalised and adopted by the Minister for Planning. “It will come into effect once it is consolidated into the online Planning and Design Code, which is anticipated to occur on 15 January 2026”. Download the article here.

The changes approved on 19th December will give the Council Assessment Panel (CAP) the ability to consider the actions that are within the control the owner of a local heritage property, such as maintaining the condition of the building to prevent it falling into a state of irredeemable disrepair.

Perhaps 69 High Street Kensington will be the last local heritage building to be demolished unnecessarily. We can only hope.

The KRA will continue its efforts to have cultural heritage significance specifically mentioned in legislation and to change the present inequity of an owner who can make 3 representations for demolition while heritage advocates only have one opportunity to oppose.

Thank you to everyone who supports the KRA efforts to oppose destruction of the heritage buildings which add so much character and value to our wonderful Kensington Village.

Exciting news!

Council’s Senior Traffic Engineer, Rebecca van der Pennen, has advised the Kensington Residents’ Association that community consultation on the much-needed Thornton Street Zebra Crossing is complete, and the project is going ahead. Council is now progressing to detailed design and crossing installation is scheduled to occur March-June 2026.

KRA President Roger Bryson commenced lobbying Council for pedestrian safety improvements near McKellar Stewart Kindergarten in May 2024 after being approached by concerned kindy staff and parents. Roger queried the Mayor as to whether a pedestrian refuge could be placed in the middle of Thornton Street, however Council’s Manager Traffic & Integrated Transport, Gayle Buckby, counselled that there is insufficient width at the crossing point for installation of a median island. Ms Buckby suggested a zebra crossing as an alternative but expressed concern about sight lines and insufficient distance from the junction of Regent Street. Further investigation was scheduled into the Council’s list of traffic projects.

By December 2024, Rebecca van der Pennen had taken over as project lead and advised KRA that development of a concept design was underway. In January 2025 Ms van der Pennen met with KRA and McKellar Stewart Kindergarten representatives to discuss the developed concept.

Consultation letters were sent to directly impacted properties in late August 2025. On 27 November 2025 the KRA committee were informed that the surveyed community members supported the crossing concept design and Council is progressing to detailed design.

Project updates and information will continue to be available on the Council website located here: https://www.npsp.sa.gov.au/projects/thornton-street-zebra-crossing

Bikes for Refugees & Adelaide Community Bicycle Workshop have relocated to sheds behind St Matthew’s Church, 146 Kensington Road, Marryatville. Access the carpark and workshop from The Crescent.

From their former location in Franklin Street in the city, the Bikes for Refugees charity provided more than 17,000 bikes to refugees and other people in need. Cr Christel Mex of the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters and Bishop Tim Harris of St Matthew’s Church officially opened the new workshop on Friday 14th November. The Hon. Mira el Dannawi MLC also spoke during the formalities, praising the efforts of Bikes For Refugees in providing refugees with a means of transport and a sense of inclusion in Adelaide.

Opening Hours*
Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday 11am-5 pm
Most Saturdays 10am-1pm

*If possible, please call or SMS before visiting.

Please contact the workshop (phone or email) if you wish to donate bikes or bike parts. The team will be able to quickly determine with a few questions whether they can use the items you wish to donate. If they can’t use your unwanted bikes/parts they will be able to direct you to alternative options for recycling.

Skilled volunteers are needed to assist with bike repairs – contact Mike Brisco at the workshop if you can help.

 Renovated bikes and second-hand bike parts are also sold to the public to raise funds for running costs and donations to aligned charities. Check Facebook Marketplace to view available bikes by clicking here. Most Saturdays the team holds a Bike Market where you can purchase a checked and serviced bike for a reasonable price or browse their collection of second hand bike parts and accessories. Note, Saturdays can be very busy, so customising of purchased bikes is not possible.

Contact via:
Email: acbwsa@gmail.com
Mobile Ph: 0406 918 787

View the workshop’s website here and for further information on the charity, click here.

! UPDATE ! The Council Assessment Panel refused to approve demolition of 69 High St Kensington during their meeting on 20th October!! A WIN but the old Kensington elementary school building is NOT SAFE YET, as the applicants (owners) could appeal to the Environment Resources and Development Court to overturn or alter the CAP’s decision.
The Kensington Residents’ Association is continuing to pursue State Heritage listing for 69 High St. We have lodged a very detailed and extensively researched nomination with Heritage SA seeking State Heritage status for this neglected Kensington gem that dates from 1847.
To ensure neglected historic properties are better protected in the future, you can write to the Minister for Planning, the Hon Nick Champion (pictured below outside 69 High St), requesting that the recommendation from the Expert Panel for the Planning System Implementation Review (2023) regarding demolition by neglect is fully implemented as a matter of urgency. See page 225 of this report.
The Council Assessment Panel is obliged to follow the rules of the State Government’s Planning and Design Code, so this change to the code is crucial.
Write to the Minister at MinisterChampion@sa.gov.au .

Why is the building at 69 High Street so important? It is one of the oldest elementary school buildings in South Australia and one of the oldest single-room adaptive colonial buildings in existence. Built in 1847 it is the oldest still-standing example of a school associated with the Congregationalist movement championed by John William Roberts (1794-1875), who also built the 1848 Congregationalist Chapel, located in Maesbury Street beside Pioneer Park. The school at 69 High Street was specifically linked to Roberts’ ‘dissenter’ views and his desire to create Kensington Village as a model community based on the ‘Voluntary Principle’.

From the Book of Assessment for the Town of Kensington and Norwood 1849, the building was described as a ‘School Room’ and the occupier was Septimus Webster, a school master. An advertisement from the SA Register on 18 August 1856 shows that Mr Septimus Webster advertised for students for the Kensington Elementary School at the site.

Sandy Wilkinson, Heritage Consultant, in conjunction with Urathane Solutions, provided a report to the Council Assessment Panel at its May 2025 meeting when the Panel first considered the demolition application. The report outlined the heritage value of the building and argued that the building is not irredeemably beyond repair and should not be subject to demolition approval under the Planning and Design Code. The owners of 69 High Street have apparently has ignored this advice and are proceeding with the demolition application.

The Kensington Residents’ Association calls on the State Government to implement the 2023 recommendations from the Expert Panel for Planning Implementation Review, by changing the Planning and Design Code immediately to address “demolition by neglect”. The Expert Panel recommended that Councils be given the power to issue maintenance orders for Local Heritage Places and also to allow Council Assessment Panels to consider the cause of deterioration in demolition assessments (Reform 15: “To exclude deterioration due to neglect as a supporting factor for demolition”).

“The Panel heard that there is a penchant for local heritage places to be neglected and left to deteriorate to enable ease of their demolition in accordance with Performance Outcome 6.1 of the Code. The Panel considers this needs review to ensure the local heritage places are not being neglected and left dilapidated.” (Final Report and Recommendations: Expert Panel for the Planning System Implementation Review, page 225)

The South Australian Government may support this recommendation, but it has yet to be implemented.

If we lose the historic elementary school building, an important part of the story of South Australia will be lost forever. SOS! Save Our Schoolhouse!