Updates

On 11 August, Council supported the 30km/hr speed limit for Oxford Street but ditched the reduction in pedestrian safety and amenity at the Vincent/Oxford Streets intersection. Further information from Main Roads clarified that whilst it is their intention generally to replace all-pedestrian light phases with so-called parallel walks, they would not be insisting on it for this very busy location.

Common sense wins the day!

And let's hope that there is no further suggestion of removing the pedestrian phases at Beaufort and Walcott Streets or Flinders Street and Scarborough Beach Road.

On 25 August, Council endorsed a proposal and preliminary assessment to be submitted to the WA Planning Commission for the removal of widening reservations on most of Fitzgerald Street (Carr to Walcott Street) and Beaufort Street (Brisbane to Walcott Street). Widening would gut these communities and, given the number and nature of properties involved would never in fact be undertaken. In the meantime, though, the widening reservations restrict development and business opportunities.

As the initiator of this process, I am very pleased at this support from fellow elected members. It is equally gratifying to see the arguments I have mounted over the past couple of years reflected in the WA Planning Commission's Directions 2031: Draft Spatial Framework for the Perth and Peel, so other communities , not just Vincent, will benefit.

On 25 August, Council decided not to proceed with the draft Streetscapes policy, supporting the Town's officers' recommendation, on the grounds that:

(a) the document has been significantly diluted during the community consultation process and has therefore substantially reduced the value of the document to such an extent, whereby it is no longer considered an adequate planning tool;

(b) the diluted document does not offer significant provisions for protecting “recognised streetscapes”, beyond what is already provided in the Town's Policy No. 3.2.1 relating to Residential Design Elements, the Town's Policies relating to Heritage Management and Town Planning Scheme No. 1;

(c) the nomination process for streets to be included into the Draft Policy is fundamentally flawed and is considered too unrealistic to achieve;

(d) the Town’s existing Policy No. 3.2.1 relating to Residential Design Elements, the Town's Policies relating to Heritage Management and the Town Planning Scheme No:1 already provide appropriate control measures for the protection of “recognised streetscapes”; and

(e) the document, if adopted in its current form, has the potential to cause confusion and ambiguity to the community and the Town’s Officers, whilst at the same time unnecessarily complicating the current Development Approval process.

I did not support this rejection, as I believe there is considerable community support for the objectives of the draft streetscape policy. I stated at the meeting that I was extremely concerned that the consultation process had misled residents and ratepayers, as witnessed by the large number of e-mails I received on this matter.

However, clearly Council did not get it right on this occasion, probably because we didn't talk with the community sufficiently. Acknowledging this, I moved a subsequent motion (adopted 7-1) that Council:

(a) ENGAGE with the community to establish views on streetscape management and to
develop appropriate policies to support those views;

(b) REQUESTS the Chief Executive Officer to provide a report to the Council on an
appropriate process and timeline by September 2009; and

(c) REVIEW the format of the consultation letter and guidelines to accurately reflect
how comments are to be considered.

The timeline is important, as local government elections are being held on 17 October (actually, with postal voting in the Town of Vincent, you can vote immediately you receive ballot papers in the mail) and this will enable the new Council to start moving on this without delay.

Give with one hand…take away with the other

There is an item on the Vincent Council agenda for 11 August that seeks to approve a 30km/h speed limit in the Oxford Centre (Leederville). As one who has been pushing for years for slower speeds in our town centres, I support this wholeheartedly.

However, there is a sting in the tail - Main Roads apparently is agreeing to this only with the trade-off that the all-pedestrian phase at the intersection of Oxford and Vincent Streets be replaced by so-called 'parallel walk' phases.

It is nonsensical to implement a 30kph speed limit with the objective of "improving pedestrian safety" and then reduce the opportunities for pedestrians to cross safely and conveniently at the intersection in the heart of the area.

Parallel walk phases are not suitable for, nor are they safe in, places like this, where there are heavy and complex pedestrian movements. Even outside these areas, parallel walks are dangerous in WA as Perth drivers do not give way to pedestrians even when the pedestrians have right of way. Parallel walks add confusion, by having signals facing motor vehicle drivers change to green when the pedestrian is only halfway across the road, usually on a median island, so the car driver might assume that he/she (driver) has right of way.

Personally, I am not even willing to consider parallel walks at Oxford/Vincent (whether 5 or 10sec pedestrian 'advance').

The same applies at Walcott and Beaufort, where I have heard that Main Roads wants to do the same thing. Business people I have talked to in this area do not want to lose the exclusive pedestrian phase - and certainly pedestrians don't! This is the only controlled crossing point of Beaufort Street between Bulwer Street and Central Avenue - a distance of nearly 2.5km!

Presumably Main Roads will also seek to do the same in Mt Hawthorn at the intersection of Flinders Street and Scarborough Beach Road.

THE WA Planning Commission draft Activity Centre policy (Item 9.1.19 on Tuesday's Council agenda) states that "activity centres and management of traffic" should "sustain high levels of pedestrian movement". This proposal would restrict pedestrian access and worsen pedestrian safety.

I recently helped organise, with the support of the Town of Vincent, the 2009 Mainstreet Conference,held in Fremantle. This conference had the theme 'Rediscovering the Heart', reflecting the rediscovery by local communities of the centres that are both physically and socially their real heart. The key to this is people - so why on earth would we make things more difficult for people to move around our town centres on foot?

I will move that we do not support the removal of the pedestrian phase at the Oxford/Vincent Street intersection and also that: The Council opposes any diminution of pedestrian access and safety in its Town Centres through removal of dedicated pedestrian phases at traffic signals.