A PLANNING change to prepare about 493ha of rural Bullsbrook land for future residential development, schools and public spaces has been approved by the governor despite community opposition.

This latest update comes on the back of months of ongoing reports of development impacts in the Swan Valley leading to a rise in flooding reports as reported in Infiltration not a feasible strategy: SCEA vice chair.

The change, Metropolitan Region Scheme (MRS) amendment 1411 (complex), has now been tabled in both houses of parliament where it may be disallowed by either house, or will otherwise come into effect.

The land it refers to is the North Ellenbrook East area, which is north of Ellenbrook, east of Tonkin Highway, west of Railway Parade and south of rural land, and is 5.5kms from the Ellenbrook rail station for easy future public transport access.

During the amendment’s advertisement period, 43 submissions were received with 22 objections, six supportive submissions and 17 general comments and others.

Main issues raised in submissions included environmental concerns, negative amenity impacts, and a push to zone urban deferred into urban zoning.

According to the amendment report, the land is currently used for a range of rural and rural-residential land uses, including small-scale hobby farms, horse keeping and limited cattle grazing.

Swan Communities Environmental Alliance (SCEA) vice chair Jan Zeck said vigilance is needed as development continues.

“We have warned people in the North Ellenbrook area that they need to start monitoring now before any development occurs,” she said.

“They need to get some baseline information because you cannot rely on what the consultants have put together because obviously in our area, it didn’t stack up.

“They did not foresee the problems that we are having now so you cannot rely on that.”

Ms Zeck said residents who were concerned and wanted to take action needed to collect baseline information for groundwater levels.

“They need to go out and photograph all the vegetation that’s there now and they need to do that twice a year at the end of summer and end of winter.

“They need to go through all of the documents to get some understanding of what the water strategies are and how they work because the problems that we have here like building tree pits or about filling the land and then expecting that vegetation and waterways will operate in the same way that they did before will never happen.

“Once the land is filled with sand, the water table rises to such an extent that the hydrology is changed which means that nothing lives in the same environment as it did in the past.”

Ms Zeck presented a deputation on February 25 to the WA Planning Commission (WAPC) about the flooding and groundwater problems linked to development near the Swan Valley and North Ellenbrook East area.

She said the sand over clay soils in the area meant water couldn’t drain properly and environmental assessment of the site showed about a quarter of the site already had groundwater at or above ground level.

“North Ellenbrook East is located on duplex soils,” she said.

“The same geology exists in the southern Swan growth corridor but the difference is this site is much wetter.

“We are already seeing significant problems in the south with rising groundwater inundation and flooding associated with development in both new urban and adjacent properties.”

The previous version aimed to rezone about 504ha but was modified following submissions and a revision.