PAULA SAMSON is a founding member of Melville City Climate Action Network. In this week’s THINKING ALLOWED she explains why they’re fighting so hard for Melville council to create two new parks in the Canning Bridge precinct.
AS many people sell their family home and downsize to an apartment, there is an issue of providing adequate Public Open Space.
Single family home blocks are demolished to make way for high-rise, high-density apartments with the subsequent loss of open space in residential backyards. There is a WA government Public Open Space Strategy Guide for Local Governments which formalises what local governments plan and what communities can expect.
This guide states that a local council contributes to the community’s overall aspirations for public open space by:
• meeting the sport, recreation and nature needs of the community;
• enhancing community health and wellbeing;
• providing high quality, sustainable park landscaping and infrastructure;
• valuing and protecting cultural heritage;
• improving community connectivity and equitable access to key destinations;
• providing valuable education resources;
• increasing biodiversity, protecting vulnerable wild spaces and conserving environmental resources;
• creating new and different opportunities for use and programming of space; and,
• providing a framework for long-term planning.
Figure 1: The blue circle marks the 400m radius of the high-rise development. With new high-rise development blocks being built, there are thousands of people moving into the area. However, there are no new green open spaces being developed within the 400m radius of these building. • Image by Agata Cabanek, researcher, lecturer, supervisor in landscape architecture and sustainable urbanism at UWA and Curtin University.
Council should also, “ensure the provision of equitable access to nature, sport and recreation opportunities throughout the local government area” and, “ensure that parks are developed to a minimum standard to enhance residential amenity and to ensure functions identified in planning are fulfilled; eg playgrounds, shade, shelter, drinking fountains, seating, footpaths/boardwalks”.
Nature spaces provide settings where people can enjoy nearby nature and protect local biodiversity.
Recreation spaces provide a setting for informal play and physical activity and obviously sport spaces provide a setting for formal structured sporting activities.
POS can include river foreshore but the guide clearly states that a council needs to identify impediments that may prevent such POS being used by the community and to do an analysis of its suitability.
In relation to high-rise, part of this equitable access includes the guideline that 6.5sqm of active open space per resident should be set aside and that anything significantly less than this figure would seem inadequate.
When density increases by thousands of people then this must be addressed.
• Photo 1: Apex Reserve flooding, Mount Pleasant, and Photo 2: boat trailers that block public access and make it unsuitable for public open space.
Most people accept that with an ever-increasing population in our metropolitan area it makes sense to build upward.
A good example of this is Singapore.
As Singapore’s population and economy grew, so did its green cover: it was about 36 per cent in the 1980s and it now stands at 47 per cent with a tree canopy percentage of almost 30 per cent; one of the greenest cities in the world and with 300 kilometres of green corridors as part of its “Park Connector Network”.
By comparison the City of Melville tree canopy in 2022 was only 13 per cent.
The high-rise, high density development occurring in the Canning Bridge Precinct under the direction of the City of Melville does not meet the POS guidelines.
Although there is some river foreshore POS north of Canning Highway, the POS south of Canning Highway, named Apex Reserve, has “impediments” and lacks “suitability” to be used a POS.
Figure 2. It begins being adjacent to the very busy Canning Bridge, has rowing boat sheds, a car park, a pedestrian/bike pathway and the Rowing Pavilion.
It should also be noted that many large boat trailers are obstacles and in winter this area is prone to flooding as can be seen in the following photos.
It is predicted that close to 8000 people will be living in the Canning Bridge Precinct area.
Using the 6.5sqm per person guideline equates to 52,000sqm.
Currently, the City of Melville residents are advocating to have one park (3,500sqm) north of Canning Highway and one park (2,000sqm) south of Canning Highway.
This is only one-tenth of what is needed.
Therefore, as high-density living increases, we need to know, understand and be vigilant in ensuring public open space guidelines are followed by our local councils.
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