Bilgoman Pool concerns
Dear Echo News,

As the next school holidays are approaching, my mind turns to what the dastardly Mundaring Shire might get up to next… Intrigued? You should be.

Every time the spring school holidays are approaching the Bilgoman Pool gets tantalisingly prepared for use…and then kept closed until just after the holidays end! Clever, hey?

And then, six months or so later, at the end of summer and just as the school holidays approach, the Bilgoman Pool gets closed – just in time to disappoint the kiddies, and their parents, yet again.

You really couldn’t make this stuff up and as far as ‘stuff-ups’ go it’s as good as it gets.

No one can accuse the shire of not having a sense of humour, nor of putting their ratepayers first.

P Carman
Hovea

Midland traffic congestion
Dear Echo News,

I think that pretty much every reader would agree that firstly a main function of government is to provide adequate transportation infrastructure to serve its various constituencies, and secondly traffic congestion in Midland shows a failure to meet this demand.

One locus of this failure is the area around Clayton and Lloyd Streets where over development (medical, university and police precincts stacked next to existing commercial still expanding into the saleyard district) meets under planning and inadequate infrastructure.

It comes as no surprise, and fully corroborates pre-existing traffic  modelling, that traffic commonly stacks all the way between this intersection and Great Eastern Highway, more than a half kilometre away. It seems a massive game of square peg/round hole some days!

Now those who so thoughtfully brought us this logjam turn their talk back to the Lloyd Street Bridge  as a means to “alleviate” this mess.

Are we again going to ignore the modelling that says this adds 16,000 transits per day to this intersection?

Who can really believe this will reduce congestion?

It seems more likely the camels nose under the tent to revive East Link as widening the northern extent of Lloyd Street is critical to that project.

These plans seem squarely focused on the past: intending to build infrastructure conceived before most of the current residents and development was in place.

These plans have not evolved to address the current needs of the area. A comprehensive review urgently needs to be completed to prevent more infrastructure fiascos going forward.

In that light, I would like to suggest for consideration two transportation proposals.

First, utilise all of the easment space to turn Great Eastern Highway east of Midland Gate into a grand boulevard with left-turn slip lanes and right-turn storage lanes to facilitate connection with Roe Highway.

Second, consider an interchange at Helena Valley Road and Roe Highway to eliminate the crossover problem and to get trucks onto the highway directly.

These likely would be better at reducing congestion on Clayton Street than any bridge or link City of Swan or MRWA have proposed.

Dr R Ilchik
South Guildford

Highway rubbish
Dear Echo News,

Many years ago when I first visited Bali, Indonesia I saw how a Third World country was.

Their conditions were very poor. When I spoke to one of the locals I asked why the people threw so much rubbish into the dried up river. She replied, “When the rains come, it will wash all the evil spirits out to sea”.

Fast forward to 2024.

Recently, whilst driving along one of our main highways, the Roe Highway, I was reminded of that local’s quaint belief.

I observed that from Midland through to the Tonkin Highway, a sight that was reminiscent of my Bali days, approximately 10 kilometres of rubbish strewn either side of the road. All sorts of rubbish! Not cans or bottles, there’s money in that now!

I live in Forrestfield and frequently traverse Roe Highway between Forrestfield and Midland, and I cannot speak for other highways.

As there are no footpaths, it is obvious we have a motoring society who have the same quaint belief that their rubbish will just be washed away or are reliant on others cleaning up for them!

We used to have many bright yellow bins on our road verges as part of ‘Keep Australia Beautiful’. 

Then there were periodical verge cleanups.

Then along came the container deposit scheme.

The state government have waved the magical wand for container cleanup. Bottles and cans only!

What about the rest of the rubbish or are we waiting for the rains to come?

Perhaps our state government will drop a few dollars in the hat, if there’s any spare cash after Metronet and their other big dollar projects. I believe the highways are a state responsibility!

It’s not just about spending money on big projects, its our home!

Make our state beautiful again!

E Britten
Forrestfield

Friends of the ‘Forrest’
Dear Echo News,

Thanks to Margaret Jones, bush loving pianist and volunteer Friend of John Forrest National Park, for staging her fourth lovely event this year, in her bimonthly bushcare info, chat and music (BICM) series - this time inside the Uniting Church Mundaring, on August 25.

Thanks  also to Friends of Jane Brook Catchment Group for providing practical support, and beautiful displays, and the Shire of Mundaring for the grant funding.

It was not only  pretty, with cloth banners, plants and light streaming through stained glass windows, but also highly informative.

Divided by piano music, there were two complementary lectures, one regarding insects, and one on invasive weeds, explained with colourful visuals,  the impact that negative changes to a natural habitat make on the insect life on which bird and plant life exist.

S Braun
Mundaring