ARTISTS near the Roundhouse are fuming after Fremantle council blocked the only vehicle access to their galleries and studios with bollards that were installed without consultation.
The group of art organisations occupy the Pilot’s Cottages at the top of the rocky outcrop of Arthur Head/Manjaree and had previously been able to access their galleries via a “pedestrian pathway” on the reserve.
Photographer Glen Cowans said the City installed the bollards without notice, even though he has a permit to park and load or unload his photography material.
• Photographer Glen Cowans will have to haul large sail-like paintings along Arthur Head/Manjaree’s windswept bluff thanks to Fremantle council installing bollards in his only access route.
“All my unloading might take half an hour, so the permit allows me to do that, and I need to be able to do that almost on a daily basis,” Mr Cowans said.
“If I try to take a two-metre canvas through the wind up here, it’s going to be a sail that’ll take me kitesurfing, as well as damage to the customer’s print… even carrying it down the [Roundhouse] stairs is impossible.
“I’ve also got big rolls of canvas because I do my own printing, and they’re heavy, and there’s other heavy goods that I have to bring in and out… we also do expos and markets, so we’ve got to be able to load and unload the car.”
Mr Cowans says the City tried to put in provisions to protect the reserve’s lawn, including to place large rocks at the entrance, but the bollards were never discussed.
“Six months ago they said we need to stop parking on the lawn, so I made sure I never did it, but some [other people]…started doing it again,” Mr Cowans said.
“Instead of sending parking inspectors up there to fine people, they’ve done this.
“If they’d just given people a ticket, they probably wouldn’t have done it again, but now they’ve gone and complicated it for everybody.”
Mr Cowans said he “just couldn’t believe it” when he came across the bollards this week, especially given the need for emergency service access to the Roundhouse and Arthur Head/Manjaree.
“It doesn’t make much sense, you would have thought because I’ve got a permit, give me a key to the bollards or something, but nothing… there was no consultation, no thought,” he said.
“Best case scenario, they rethink it completely, take [the bollards] out and just stop people parking on the lawn.
“If an ambulance had to come up here, even if they had a key, they’ve got to get out and remove the bollards which is wasting time because in the 15 years I’ve been here, we’ve seen multiple ambulances come up here for people who have had heart attacks… it’s like no one has really given it a thought.”
The City of Fremantle were contacted for comment.
by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER