Cr Phil Eva wants height rules in industrial areas changed so Cockburn doesn’t get another unwanted landmark. Photo by Steve Grant.

A COCKBURN councillor has called for an overhaul of height rules in industrial areas following public outcry over a giant cold storage warehouse in Bibra Lake that’s visible from Rottnest.

Americold Logistic’s 47-metre warehouse on Quarimor Road is visible from Hamilton Hill through to Beeliar, which councillor Phil Eva says gives the wrong impression about Cockburn.

“That’s almost a statement; as you come down Stock Road, or you come anywhere, you’ve got [Americold, then you look at Cockburn Cement, and then you see the stacks down at Kwinana, and then you see WaterCorp,” Cr Eva said.

“We don’t need that, you know, we’re getting away from that [industrial look].”

Councillors were unaware of the warehouse’s approval, as it went through under delegated authority because it conforms with all the city’s planning rules.

“So the next minute, we start getting phone calls; ‘what’s going on there?’,” Cr Eva said.

“The location to me is wrong; you don’t put something like that on top of the hill, you move it down to maybe Latitude 32, you maybe put it in an area which is a valley, because there’s plenty of places around where you could do that and then you won’t see it.”

Cr Eva says under WA’s planning rules there are no height restrictions in industrial precincts (other than Jandakot because of its airport).

“We need to talk to the government in relation to changing that rule,” he said.

“That is quite a big industrial area, and not many industrial areas run right onto the back of residential areas.

Back in 2019 Americold flagged a big expansion in Australia after another cold storage giant, Emergent Cold, purchased Aussie company Oxford Cold Storage. That caught the eye of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission which examined the deal for any monopoly developing before deciding not to throw up any opposition.

by STEVE GRANT