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.