Dear Echo News,
Having recently been caught up in the almost shutdown of Great Northern Hwy due to an event held in Herne Hill on June 6, it made me think how that drive from Middle Swan to Upper Swan has changed.
Once a free-flowing major artery, traffic mainly being clay trucks, locals, light trucks, MTT buses carrying workers and kids to school via Midland junction.
Most oncoming vehicles getting a friendly wave recognisable by the Swan rego they displayed.
Along the way manicured vineyards and livestock grazing.
Sadly, the Houghton Winery sign has gone (big piece of local history) with more vines being removed.
Businesses being locally owned and operated ie: a sawmill, woodyard, a cooperage, a hardware store, a postoffice/convenience store, a citrus juicing factory, a service station, liquor outlet.
Plus, a little ole church and a primary school all to service needs of the valley.
Further to the hardware store it would have rivalled the big green sheds of today because it sold everything from A to Z.
Wheels of progress have rolled in bringing retail outlets such as barista coffee, boutique breweries, distilleries, nougat, chocolate, honey, tapas, eateries, hair salon etc.
Wheels keep rolling, except along the highway due to congestion.
B Bates
Millendon
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Dear Echo News,
How much longer are we having to wait for the state government to make a decision about the ownership, and more importantly, the future use of the old decommissioned Swan District Hospital site in Middle Swan?
At a time when there is a well-known shortage of residential aged care beds to meet the needs of our ageing local community, when older people are waiting months and months to have their care needs assessed and funded, and when there are older people occupying beds in public hospitals because they have not been able to care for themselves at home, the state government allows the old 11 ha hospital site to sit idle and unwanted.
Correspondence from several state government ministers dating back to 2017 shows that our committee members were promised (in writing) that the hospital site would be (1) rezoned to allow for the building of a new and much needed residential age care facility and housing in various forms, and (2) that the site would be placed on the open market to attract a buyer from the age care sector.
In one of those letters, dated 13 March 2019, the then Minister for Lands, the Ben Wyatt wrote in part:
“As you are aware, an expression of interest will be undertaken for the Swan District Hospital site following an application being lodged with the City of Swan to rezone the site to ‘special use zone.’
“The rezoning will allow for the future redevelopment to include residential aged care, among other uses. Technical investigations in support of the rezoning request have now been completed and the application will be lodged following final consultation.
“Eventual marketing for the site will identify the government’s commitment to making suitable land available for aged care development, and will encourage proposals incorporating aged care to be submitted.”
Despite the promises and commitments made, and without any consultation with us or with the City of Swan, Minister Wyatt wrote telling us in September 2020 that the site had been offered to the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council as part of the greater Native Title Settlement Plan.
Despite our numerous letters to the now Minister for Lands, the John Carey, no decision has been made about whether the offer to the SWALSC has been accepted, or if they are still considering the offer.
While we wait, the urgent need for new residential age care places, and homes in the City of Swan continues.
Come Minister, it is time for you and your government to make a decision about the ownership and future use of this site.
It is time to make a decision in the best interests of our local ageing community.
Enough is enough.
Ron Carey
City of Swan Community Care Services Age Care Sub-Committee chair
--------------------------------------------------------------------Dear Echo News,
At the June 23 Kalamunda council meeting, community members delivered deputations on the city’s proposal to commercialise the Carmel Schoolhouse heritage site – a Crown reserve in a proclaimed drinking water catchment, occupied by a scout group for over 24 years.
One of the most affecting moments of the evening came from the scout leader himself.
He told councillors his group had been on that site for over 24 years and that they did not want to leave.
He offered to work with the city to generate income from the site and asked councillors, before they voted, to consider the scouts with more care than they had been shown so far.
It’s important to note that the site’s heritage obligations and maintenance costs are the city’s responsibility – not the scout’s – and nothing in the scout’s tenure has created the constraints the city now cites as reasons to commercialise.
The agenda made the city’s preferred direction plain.
Of six options considered, the officer recommended option 3c: converting the heritage schoolhouse site into a camping and caravan park on a commercial ground lease, to be taken to market before any planning approvals are in place.
Astonishingly, community consultation will not occur until after a preferred commercial operator has already been selected.
The community’s concerns about this were substantive: unresolved planning and environmental constraints, no confirmed revenue figures, and a process the city’s own risk register rates as major and high risk of not obtaining the necessary approvals.
Yet council voted unanimously to proceed and no councillor spoke against.
Not one question was asked about the water catchment, the heritage obligations, or the scouts future.
Councillor Modolo explained the unanimity plainly.
Speaking to the motion, he told his colleagues: “Wasn’t that long ago we had a strategic retreat, and at that strategic retreat, we talked very much about all of the assets we have, our inability to maintain them to the best of our ability, and the need to make hard decisions.”
A second councillor added: “We have to make the most of all of our assets.”
G Ryan
Wattle Grove
