COUNCIL has reaffirmed its commitment to keep its Arden Street land for public open space.
The East Perth Redevelopment Authority is pushing hard for the land to be handed over so it can build eighteen houses on it.
EPRA area residents are keen to have the land retained for public open space.
In fact, the item before council drew a considerable and occasionally vocal response from these residents.
Councillor Laurance Goodman said Perth had more space available to the public than anywhere else he had been.
“If we allow the land to be developed, only those residents
living there would be able to enjoy it,” Mr Goodman said.
“While the EPRA has done a lot of good things in its area, this is not a good proposal for Perth.”
Councillor Tess Stroud said she believed the land should be kept as public open space to balance
the tightly-packed developments inherent to the area.
Councillor Jennifer MacGill said councillors had been told in a recent briefing that it had always been the EPRA’s intention to develop the Arden Street land.
“I don’t know how many times we have to tell the EPRA no,” she said.
“We should fight like mad to keep this land.”
Councillor Bert Tudori suggested it was time for the EPRA to
move on from that part of the redevelopment.
“It’s virtually all finished now,” he said.
Lord Mayor Peter Nattrass said the attempts to secure the Arden Street land had been going on for the past eight years.
While he is keen to retain the land as public open space, Dr Nattrass said its conversion to recreational land was not a priority for council.
“It will cost us around $1.5 million to remove the poisons from the land there,” he said.
