CONCERNS about the City of Swan’s biodiversity commitments were a public question time focus at the February ordinary council meeting.

The City of Swan initially adopted its current Local Biodiversity Strategy in 2015 and was due for review and the new draft is the third edition of the document.

Swan resident Bill Caroll said residents had consultation sessions in November last year, and since then there have been initiatives that have been deferred.

“It just seems to be dragging on,” he said.

Mr Caroll said the city’s tree preservation scheme and fauna protection scheme, formerly the kangaroo protection scheme, were measures that should sit clearly within a broader biodiversity framework.

“We now have a black cockatoo action plan which seems to be going ahead,” he said.

“But those three issues should really come under the biodiversity action plan.”

City of Swan planning and development executive director Leon Van der Linde said the city’s environmental policies operate under a layered structure.

“It is necessary to understand that the city’s framework in terms of environmental preservation, the umbrella of this framework is the sustainable environmental strategy,” he said.

“The biodiversity plan is an action plan that pulls some of that together.

“You’re 100 per cent right, everything is not under one document (and) we need to read these documents together.”

Mr Caroll asked whether the biodiversity action plan would extend to land controlled by other government agencies.

“Will this plan be enforced over land controlled by Main Roads, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA), Waters and Rivers?” he said.

Mr Van der Linde said implementation would involve collaboration.

“In terms of the action plan, there’s a requirement to further collaborate with other agencies in addition to further collaboration with private landowners, developers and members of the public that that are involved,” he said.

Mr Caroll also asked if there would be consultation with Whadjuk Noongar Elders.

City of Swan chief executive officer Stephen Cain said a separate Aboriginal cultural heritage plan was currently in development.

“We’re also required to produce an Aboriginal cultural heritage plan,” he said.

“That’s a separate document that covers the whole of the city and deals in detail with all Aboriginal protection issues, and we’re currently engaging with the Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation on that plan.”

Mr Cain said staff couldn’t recommend allocation of funds to a particular initiative until there was an overarching strategic objective.

“There are recommendations as part of which will sit in this year’s budget,” he said.

“Some of it deals with staff (as) it’s no good adopting an action plan if you don’t have anyone to actually do any work on it.”

Swan Valley Ratepayers and Residents Association president Humphrey Boogaerdt said the Shire of Mundaring had a budget a quarter of the size of the City of Swan’s and was able to produce a 124-page biodiversity strategy document with a comprehensive action plan.

“The City of Swan’s biodiversity action plan misses lots of points that are made in Mundaring’s,” he said.

Mr Boogaerdt said he believed the city didn’t have a strategy for biodiversity as well and asked what the public was meant to make of this.

Mr Van der Linde said the city needed to resource a framework which required adopting a plan which will need to come back to council for cost considerations.

During the voting process, Cr Jennifer Catalano moved for the council to request revisions including measurable goals and broader stakeholder involvement but lost the vote 6/8.

“Urban tree policy should refer to the Biodiversity Action Plan and not the other way around so that verges and parks are planted with local species to become Ecological Linkages,” she said.

“(We should recognise) that mapping provided currently is deficient and unusable.”

Cr Rod Henderson also made an amendment to clarify actions proposed under the new plan were not binding under the state and national legislative framework which was carried.

The council resolved 8/6 to adopt the Local Biodiversity Action Plan as attached but with conditions.

The full adopted biodiversity action plan may be accessed on the City of Swan website.