EPA knocks back Armadale road proposal

The Environmental Protection Authority has denied the City of Armadale’s proposal to build a road through high-value natural bushland after declaring it environmentally unacceptable.

Following an environmental impact assessment of the Keane Road strategic link, which would cut through a large Bush Forever site, the EPA concluded it could not recommend approval. 

EPA chairman Paul Vogel said the 1.5-kilometre road between Anstey and Skeet roads in Forrestdale would be located seven kilometres north-west of Armadale within the Swan Coastal Plain bioregion.

He said the proposal had been scrutinised throughout the public environmental review, which is the highest level of assessment undertaken by the EPA. 

The EPA said the proposal didn’t meet its objectives for the key environmental factors of flora and vegetation, terrestrial fauna and hydrological processes. 

“The EPA carefully examined the Keane Road strategic link proposal and despite the City of Armadale’s proposed avoidance, minimisation and mitigation measures, the EPA concluded it could not recommend approval because the road would fragment a highly biologically diverse bushland, impacting on locally and regionally significant environmental values,” Dr Vogel said. 

“Cutting through the largely intact natural bushland would impact on the ecological integrity of the reserve through the fragmentation of vegetation communities and the restriction of movement of fauna.” 

However Dr Vogel said the EPA had provided advice in its report, supporting the acquisition of the remaining privately owned lots within the Bush Forever site and the closure of the road reserve and its amalgamation into the adjoining reserves.