Postcards from students

Dear Echo News,

What a great incentive by Bassendean Town council to get local primary school students and the whole community back to using traditional snail mail!

With this being the 150th anniversary of our state heritage listed red pillar post box the council organised a competition for primary school students to draw and design post cards with a postal or post box theme for the occasion.

The winning entries are available for free with postage stamps at Bassendean Library and people are encouraged to post to family, friends and loved ones at our pillar box on the corner of North Road and Surrey Street, Bassendean.

Well done!

I took the opportunity to send a postcard to Australia Post asking them to rectify their mistake as they recently painted the pillar box gold!

G Coleman

Bassendean

Swan ward boundary changes

Dear Echo News,

An outside observer could be excused for wondering why the ward boundary change options put forward by the City of Swan have become contentious.

On the surface, it would seem simple and straight forward, almost boring - there are statutory requirements in terms of projected residential numbers and representation that require council consideration and action.

I feel this particular issue has become increasingly vexatious with affected residents, as it’s indicative of wider, long-term perceptions amongst those same residents.

Many people, myself included, believe, rightly or wrongly, that the older suburbs in the city are neglected in terms of care and amenity, in favour of the newer, rapidly developing areas.

Cr Congerton, during the special meeting held on Monday, September 21, was at pains to point out that as well as duty towards the electors, councillors had a duty to the city.

He appeared to be telling us that the city was bigger than the residents and I feel that is the core issue of discontent.

Councils and indeed state and federal governments these days appear to blatantly and routinely discount / ignore the wishes of residents, the machine has become the goal, rather than the community.

One only has to look at DAPs in practice - set up expressly by the Barnett Liberal government and gleefully accepted by Labor, as the perfect administrative method to overcome the wishes of residents.

Indeed, it’s obvious the state government would prefer the abandonment of local councils in favour of an overall administrative body – imagine trying to get such a behemoth organisation to deal with a localised community issue!

Yes, in theory, all councillors represent all residents, in practice, that is not the case – why would a councillor representing a rural ward, vote to spend funds on a residential ward?

I’ve been fighting to try and get a relatively easy dog exercise park here in Swan View, only to be routinely shut down by an administration openly unwilling to even look at the prospect and strongly backed by councillors with no affiliation to Swan View.

But drive out to the new suburbs and have a look at what’s rightly being built and planned.

Recently, we even had Cr Bowman suggest the Guildford Library was costing money and could be looked at in a budget review. Cr Bowman of course, has nothing to do with Midland/Guildford ward.

Interestingly, Midland/Guildford ward currently has three council representatives, all of whom voted for this ward redistribution to be looked at again (they also previously voted for the dog park) and surprise, surprise, the paper to remove Jane Brook, Midvale, Stratton and Swan View from the Midland/Guildford ward plans to remove one of those representatives!

Now there may be nothing wrong and I’m certainly not suggesting any wrong doing, just mistakes, undue haste and what appears to be a long-established neglect of the older City of Swan suburbs.

One would imagine there is an impartial state government department that residents can ask to review, or oversee contentious changes, those that in the words of a past Prime Minister, “… don’t pass the pub test.”

I believe the make up of the City of Swan, along with the surrounding councils of Mundaring and Bassendean, are crying out to be re-evaluated.

There’s an obvious heritage/history link to some suburbs. There’s a madness to Swan View being divided in half to two different councils and so on.

As to whether bigger councils work better, the City of Swan appears to demonstrate it doesn’t.

Do rural and residential wards have the same issues and needs? There are many questions that need looking at.

As residents, we have an unassailable vested interest – we live here, every decision about our community directly affects us.

Our community is more important than the city. The city exists because of us and must exist for us.

G Ross

Swan View

Decision backed by residents

Dear Echo News,

Thank you to the State Administrative Tribunal’s Judge Henry Jackson for ensuring that Save Perth Hills became the first WA community group to gain Third Party Intervenor status (and therefore a voice) at Satterley Property Group’s appeal last year following rejection of its proposed North Stoneville township in the fire-prone Perth Hills.

And, recently, for reviewing and again rejecting a totally inappropriate proposal that goes against sound planning principles - such as siting WA’s much needed housing close to transport and services.

Your decision is backed not only by Hills residents and MPs across political parties, but by the Shire of Mundaring and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

At one of many Save Perth Hills rallies, a former DFES Commissioner has warned: “Populating hazardous regions to this scale is venturing into unchartered territory and I implore decision-makers to listen to the experts… the risk of bushfire catastrophe must be considered highly likely”.

The SAT decision last week found that Satterley’s plan failed to address bushfire risk and had “such basic flaws that it could not be ‘saved’ by the making of modifications”.

What amazes Perth Hills residents’ is that WA’s planning system took so long (more than 35 years and untold tax dollars) to reject a proposal that - as WA’s canopy shrinks - would see 60,000 trees felled to accommodate a stranded urban cell in a semi-rural landscape lacking adequate bushfire evacuation roads, water and other services and far from jobs and public transport.

Flawed it certainly was and on so many fronts.

Let’s hope this costly saga is now at an end - and that the state government rapidly draws a line under it by moving to rezone this long-contested Stoneville site back to rural (as requested by Mundaring Shire/Save Perth Hills), thus enabling Satterley and the land-owner, the Perth Anglican Diocese, to rethink and to develop it in a safer and more environmentally appropriate way, with the blessing of the community.

And thanks to the Echo for its consistent reporting of community concerns that are too often inadequately covered by our daily paper.

T Wiltshire

Darlington