BERRIGAN DRIVE in South Lake could become the next cappuccino strip says Cockburn councillor Yaz Mubarakai.

The east warder says the corner of Berrigan and North Lake Road is ripe for redevelopment and he can see its future as a bustling precinct of cafes and shops.

The area is in line for the council’s next revitalisation program—along with North and Bibra Lakes—and a round of consultation with the community was held last month.

Coolbellup, Phoenix and Hamilton Hill revitalisation plans have already been adopted, although only Coolbellup has seen any real transformation so far.

Cr Mubarakai says with development racing to fill the gaps between Berrigan Drive and Cockburn Central, there’ll be enough people living and working nearby to support an activity centre.

• East warder Yaz Mubarakai can see beyond a verge of mulch to Perth’s next cappuccino strip.

But he insists he’ll only push the plan if it gets support from the community, as Cockburn has turned its back on an era of piece-meal consultation.

“There were poor consultations in the past and as a result there was conflict on a far more regular basis,” Cr Mubarakai told the Herald.

“This is a bottom-up approach. We want the strategies to come from the community.”

Cr Mubarakai says sessions in Coolbellup and Phoenix had been dominated by homeowners wanting to sub-divide their properties, but Lakesiders so far have shown they just want a little TLC for their suburbs.

“What they wanted was not to move towards infill, but they want beautification and to fix environmental areas; so they wanted things like bike paths and landscaping.”

Cr Mubarakai says mayor Logan Howlett has been a driving force behind Cockburn’s consultation turn-around.

“He’s got a lot of charisma, and he’s very good at listening to people and he’s about uniformity on a horizontal level; he allows councillors to engage with him.”

by STEVE GRANT