InDaily can reveal that Environment Minister Susan Close has pushed back a deadline for close of submissions to the SA Heritage Council on state heritage listing from August until November.

The decision means a State Commission Assessment Panel hearing scheduled for September to rule on the application to gut the historic East End pub for a 19-storey student housing tower is likely to be put on hold until after public submissions close on November 3.

The 19-storey student housing block proposed for the Crown & Anchor site and Grenfell St frontage between Frome and Union streets. Image: Plan SA

It’s understood that because the hotel is already under a three-month provisional listing on the State Heritage Register – which protects it from development while a permanent listing and public submissions are considered and assessed – that listing is also extended.

Therefore, any SCAP hearing before November would have to assess the application as if the hotel had state heritage listing.

Close, who includes heritage in her portfolio, ordered the extension on July 3, according to the latest SA Government Gazette published on July 11.

“Notice is hereby given, pursuant to Section 18 (1a) of the Heritage Places Act 1993, that I, Susan Close, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, extend the period for written submissions on whether or not to confirm the entry of the Crown and Anchor Hotel, Kaurna Country, 196 Grenfell St, Adelaide 5000, provisionally entered in the South Australian Heritage Register on 26 April 2024, by three months in the public interest,” it said.

“Any person can make a written representation to the South Australian Heritage Council on whether or not to confirm the entry by 3 November, 2024.”

Asked by InDaily why the extension was ordered, Close’s office said in a statement: “Given the significant interest shown regarding the future of the Crown and Anchor site from the public, it was deemed appropriate to extend the consultation period by three months in the public interest.”

“This is the maximum extension period permitted under the Heritage Places Act 1993.

“This will give individuals an additional three months to make a written representation to the South Australian Heritage Council on whether the site should or should not be confirmed as a State Heritage Place. The consultation period will now close on 3 November 2024.”

The Crown & Anchor hotel was first granted a three-month provisional listing on the State Heritage Register on April 26.

Photo: David Simmons/InDaily.

The SA Heritage Council – an arm of the Environment Department and which reports to the Minister – approved the listing two days after receiving a public submission urging state heritage listing to protect the Grenfell St hotel from the development threat.

The Environment Department said its own assessment of the Crown & Anchor site for state heritage listing was underway.

Plans to gut the hotel have prompted a fierce community backlash, with thousands marching at a rally in April, with another planned for August.

A record 1328 public submissions were also received by Plan SA over the development plan, while submissions arguing for full State Heritage protection have been sent to the SA Heritage Council.

Save The Cranker campaign chair Evan Moroney said it was “heartening” to see the minister extend the deadline.

“This will give the public more opportunity to cast their comments and make a submission,” he said.

“We are busily working away at creating a really substantive document to support this process.”

The Crown & Anchor hotel would be demolished but its facade would remain as a “heritage” item under plans for a 19-storey student apartment tower. Image: Brown Falconer/Plan SA