Once the scene of local protests and political cat fights, the Hope Valley Wattelup Project is about to become Australia’s largest industrial development, Latitude 32.
Once the scene of local protests and political cat fights, the Hope Valley Wattelup Project is about to become Australia’s largest industrial development, Latitude 32.
The 1,400 hectare commercial and industrial estate, located 25 kilometres south of Perth, comprises 14 vertically integrated precincts to accommodate land uses including general industry, transport, eco-industry/business, commercial offices, resource recovery and parks and recreation.
The towns of Hope Valley and Wattelup were identified as being strategically significant to the state after the WA Planning Commission completed the Fremantle Industrial Regional Area Strategy in 2000, which provided planning direction for the region to 2025.
What resulted was the Hope Valley Wattelup Redevelopment Act of 2000 that defined an area for industrial redevelopment and charged LandCorp to master plan and coordinate it.
For the first time in WA, an entire community was then rezoned from residential to industrial and more than 500 families sold their homes to the government amid confusion and demands for compensation.
Launching Latitude 32 at Fremantle’s Maritime Museum last week, minister for planning and infrastructure Alannah MacTiernan said the estate would be a major focus for industrial development over the next 50 years and would provide challenges to the government in the form of accumulative impacts.
She added the government was confident it could work through any ensuing problems.
“We believe that the days in which industrial developments should look like post-holocaust nightmares are well and truly past us,” Ms MacTiernan said.
There would be a great focus on sustainability in the development itself and its linkages to key infrastructure would be critical to its success, she said.
Latitude 32 will integrate via rail and road links with the Kwinana Industrial Area and other near neighbours including the Australian Marine Complex at Henderson, East Rockingham Industrial Park and the Fremantle Ports Outer Harbour at Cockburn Sound.
The Kwinana Industrial Area comprises 1,000 hectares of heavy industry and another 800 hectares for general industry, within a buffer area to Kwinana.
To its west is the Australian Marine Complex, considered Australia’s leading marine industrial estate, with a deep water port that is about to be further dredged to accommodate a new floating dock, part of a recently announced $174 million upgrade package.
On the southern fringe is the East Rockingham Industrial Park, a 1,150 hectare park divided between seven precincts for port related industry, heavy industry, advanced materials, general and light industry and commercial operations.
Additional freight rail and road linkages will be established to Kewdale light industrial area and intermodal facility, Canning Vale light industrial area, Jandakot Airport and the proposed $1.3 billion container and general cargo port at the Fremantle Outer Harbour.
The latter project will handle the overflow trade when the Inner Harbour at Fremantle reaches capacity.
The first stage of the Outer Harbour is marked for completion by 2015 and will operate in tandem with the Inner Harbour.
At the launch, Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive John Langoulant urged the government to take into account the continuing operation of the Fremantle Inner Harbour in its future planning of the region, by ensuring there were sufficient transport links between the Inner Harbour and the industrial areas it served.
Furthermore, Mr Langoulant said the chamber held a long-standing belief that the resumption of townships including Hope Valley was a necessary requirement to establish an effective buffer around the heavy industry.
