This is the personal blog of Ian Ker, who was Councillor for the South Ward of the Town of Vincent from 1995 to 2009. I have been a resident of this area since 1985. This blog was originally conceived as a way of letting residents of Vincent know what I have been doing and sharing thoughts on important issues. I can now use it to sound off about things that concern me.

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Monday, November 26, 2018

Token Consultation on Flawed Report in City of Vincent

The City of Vincent Draft Open Space Strategy (https://imagine.vincent.wa.gov.au/public-open-space-strategy) was approved by Council for consultation on 13 November.

Consultation closes 28 November, which is, at best, effectively less than two weeks consultation time. Readers of the City's e-mail newsletter would only have found out 23 November, which gives less than one week to respond.

This is not good enough, no matter how much community involvement there might have been beforehand. Contributions made during the development process are important but do not replace the need for individuals and community organisations, including those who were unable to participate earlier, to be able to comment on the specific proposals and how they have been arrived at.

Some of the basic mapping information is wrong and/or misleading, too - for example, I live immediately opposite Hyde Park and 30m from a pedestrian-friendly crossing that goes directly to an entry path to the Park, but the map shows me being over 200 metres access distance from any public open space.

Maps also don't recognise that high-level parks also serve the functions of lower-level parks. The extreme case of this is that Banks Precinct is shown as being 801-1600 metres from a 'local park' even when just across the road from Banks Reserve, which has a sheltered playground typical of local parks.

I am bemused by Figure 4 (below). How is it that, for example, all properties immediately opposite Hyde Park are shown as being at least 100m for POS and in some cases (including my own house) more than 200m from POS. Even if I go to the nearest formalised pedestrian crossing point, I only have to walk 30 metres to it and then 20 metres across the road.

There's a big difference between 50m and 201-400m!

[Mayor Emma Cole has responded to me saying that the anomaly about Hyde Park will be rectified before further consideration by Council, but the problem with identifying one such anomaly so easily is that one is forced to wonder how many other anomalies/errors there are.]

There are other apparent anomalies, as well - most notably showing the whole of what used to be Loton Park as POS when most of it is closed off as nib stadium. A similar argument can be mounted with respect to Dorrien Gardens (Perth Soccer Club), Robertson Park (Tennis Centre) and Litis Stadium. Although these are noted in the text, it would be helpful to have this differentiated on the maps. 

[Whilst subsequent correspondence has clarified that 'closed-off' areas with no public access were recognised in the strategy analysis, it would be sensible, as well as courteous to the reader, to show this on the maps.]

Maps showing access to local, neighbourhood and district POS are even more misleading, as they fail to recognise that higher level parks such as Hyde Park serve all the functions of local, neighbourhood and regional parks (see eg Figure 5, below). There is absolutely no reason for 'local' open space to be provided when you have Hyde Park just across the road. 

The presentation is even more ludicrous in the case of the western end of Britannia Road  and most of Banks Precinct which are shown as being 801-1600m from local POS (coloured red), despite being immediately opposite Britannia Reserve (which, admittedly does not have a children's playground at the northern end) and in close proximity to Banks Reserve (which does have a children's playground), respectively,

This is token consultation on a flawed report.

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