New strategic focus for City of Freo

The City of Fremantle says it is aiming to quadruple its inner city resident population and increase retail floor space in its CBD by 20,000 square metres by 2015.

The ambitious targets are part of a raft of recommendations stemming from a new report which focused on Fremantle's pull as primary metropolitan regional centre.

"Despite Fremantle having one of the highest areas of total Planning Land Use Classification space, the report outlines that Fremantle's vacancy levels and other centre growth mean that its position, within the context of strategic metropolitan centres, is deteriorating rapidly," City of Fremantle economic development and marketing manager Andrew Eastick said.

The Drivers of Activity Centre Development in the Fremantle CBD report, authored by Urbis and the Property Council of Australia, recommended the city establish Fremantle either as a tourism and entertainment district or a major metropolitan hub, and also develop a CBD-wide strategy or structure plan to reflect its position.

According to the report, the structure plan should:
- identify strategic development areas;
- outline employment, floor space and dwelling targets;
- outline key areas/precincts/sites for major offices, Commonwealth and state government agencies, major sport stadiums, hotels museums, concert halls, theatres and cultural institutions to be located in accordance with the requirements of a Primary Centre;
- identify strategic infrastructure requirements to facilitate the above;
- provide planning and property economics justification to the consolidation of elevation of Fremantle in the metropolitan hierarchy.

"The (report) lays out in stark terms our problems and what we have to do about them in the arenas of increasing residential and commercial usability of the CBD, major public-infrastructure projects and business activity growth," Mr Eastick said.

The city also said it would focus on lobbying the state government to establish additional office accommodation in Fremantle, and identify a strategic retail direction.