SWAN council voted against the WA planning commission (WAPC) approving a Henley Brook development plan application after residents raised drainage and cockatoo habitat destruction concerns.

The Lot 96 Henley Brook estate spans a total of 16.69 hectares, of which 12.91 hectares are designated as urban under the Metropolitan Regional Scheme (MRS), with the remaining 3.78 hectares zoned for public purpose.

Swan Communities Environmental Alliance vice chair Jan Zeck made a deputation on the council floor at the agenda forum on December 3 against the officer’s recommendation that council endorse the plan to the WAPC.

“Of the 142 mature trees, only 16 are proposed to be retained,” Ms Zeck said.

“The majority are over five metres high and all are in good condition despite the vegetation around them being degraded.

“These are black cockatoo habitats with high foraging value for forest red-tails and carnabys.

“Of the 7.2 hectares of foraging habitat, 6.3 will be destroyed.

“We will be lucky to retain the miserable 0.9 hectares of black cockatoo vegetation salvaged from the native vegetation retention area and avoid excess groundwater and stormwater making flooding problems worse.”

The developments in Henley Brook have been a cause of concern for a number of residents as reported in Henley Brook community outraged at extensive land clearing (Echo News, October 17).

The urban development area excluding the area of Lot 96 has lost approximately 80 per cent of its tree canopy, which originally had approximately 30,000 trees.

An estimated 65 per cent of those trees were black cockatoo habitats, with the new tree canopy figures in the developed area reduced to less than one per cent.

Ms Zeck criticised the structure plan which she said fails to address the increased flooding problems in the area the development will produce.

“Over 99 per cent of the development is located on a palace plane, a seasonally inundated or waterlogged wetland,” she said.

“All storm water is intended to be retained on site and directed to the two drainage infrastructures within the public open space.

“Of the 14 bores with data six hit coffee rock around 1.5 metres below the surface. Consultants reference coffee rock by stating that it should be considered as impervious for drainage purposes.

“Groundwater doesn’t respect boundaries or roads and when the drainage basins in these two public open spaces fill with water and it has nowhere to go, it will move down gradient towards the current Henley Brook development.”

She said she’s saddened that the potential problems have failed to be addressed.

“I am extremely disappointed that staff have not alerted council to the potential and highly probable problems that can eventuate, especially as they were well aware of the current problems in the growth corridor,” she said.

“Once again, the city ratepayers will be left to manage the chaos.”

The Lot 96 local structure plan’s public consultation was open between October 18 and November 29, 2024 with the city receiving 11 public submissions.

Five of those submissions were objections, four conditional supports, and two submissions were in support of the plan.