DARREN BROWN, former advisor to COLIN BARNETT, has apologised for advising the Government to ignore wide spread local opposition and allow Water Corp to build the water treatment plant at the Mundaring Weir.  Read the too-little, too-late apology at WA Today:
http://www.watoday.com.au/comment/an-apology-to-the-people-of-mundaring-20130528-2n89l.html

A Safety Barrier built by Main Roads on Great Eastern Highway at Mann St. in Mundaring has created an unintentional hazard: a blind spot for traffic turning right onto Great Eastern Highway.  
 
The fence was designed to force pedestrians to cross the busy highway in marked crossings, but from the angle of view from cars waiting at the Mann St. intersection, the vertical bars of the safety fence line up to become opaque.  This makes it difficult for drivers trying to cross east-bound lanes to see if cars are coming, and to determine which lane they are in to judge if it is safe to start the turn.

The upgrade cost $770,000.  Save Perth Hills suggests this poorly designed feature be fixed before there is a major accident.

A new development of 55, ½ acre blocks in a suburban-style layout in Parkerville is now out for public comment.  Stoneville-Parkerville Progress Assoc. held a public information meeting on Jan 15. 50 residents attended. The development is owned by the Parkerville Children’s Home. It's titled: LOT 1854 BEACON ROAD & LOT 1915 ROLAND ROAD, PARKERVILLE LOCAL SUBDIVSION & INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN, or LSIP 368.


Concerns expressed were: 

Inadequate traffic access to the developments on existing narrow roads.

Excess stormwater runoff from hard surfaces (roads, roofs, driveways, verandas), temporarily stored in basins, then overflowing through open street culverts.

Sewage from septic systems on steep slopes running off with stormwater.

Elimination of native bush including several 150+ year old trees that are Black Cockatoo nesting sites (on ½ acre blocks owners are allowed to completely clear all vegetation).

Introduction of a relatively dense neighborhood into a bushfire-prone area.

Also troubling is that the development was put out for public comment Dec 19 thru Jan 28, during the holiday season when no one is watching, many people are on annual leave, and many involved offices—Shire, developer, proponent—are closed. The public notice signs were placed at the far ends of the property hidden from the main corner where they might be noticed. The LSIP was buried 4 pages back in the Shire website and difficult to search. It makes one wonder if this was all deliberate, to sneak this project thru with no one noticing.

Public must submit their comments by 4 pm Jan 28 to the Shire of Mundaring.

The Perth Hills Planning Bill was defeated in the Upper House of the West Australian Parliament by a vote of 4 for and 28 against.  You can read the debate at:

  http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Hansard/hansard.nsf/0/1b3b2000e5a8c98648257ac90022f807/$FILE/C38%20S1%2020121129%20p9046a-9046a.pdf

Here's who voted for the Bill: Hon Robin Chapple, Hon Lynn MacLaren, Hon Giz Watson, Hon Alison Xamon; all WA Greens. 

Here's who voted against the Bill: Hon Liz Behjat, Hon Kate Doust, Hon Nigel Hallett, Hon Simon
O’Brien, Hon Matt Benson-Lidholm, Hon Wendy Duncan, Hon Alyssa Hayden, Hon Ljiljanna
Ravlich, Hon Helen Bullock, Hon Phil Edman, Hon Col Holt, Hon Linda Savage, Hon Jim Chown, Hon Brian Ellis, Hon Robyn McSweeney, Hon Sally Talbot, Hon Peter Collier, Hon Jon Ford, Hon Michael Mischin, Hon Ken Travers,
Hon Mia Davies, Hon Philip Gardiner, Hon Norman Moore, Hon Max Trenorden, Hon Ed Dermer, Hon Nick Goiran Hon Helen Morton, Hon Ken Baston

You, too, have an opportunity to vote at the State elections next March, on the people who voted against the Bill.


 




  

The Perth Hills Planning Bill will be debated in the upper house of State Parliment this Thursday.  It is a Personal Members Bill introduced by Alison Xamon, MLC East Metro.

The Bill would create a Perth Hills Region, and appoint a committee of experts who would apply a set of principles designed to protect the Hills from excessive quarrying, logging, mining, and urban sprawl.

Why any Member would vote against such a bill is illogical.  They might just as well vote against protecting Rotto, the beaches and the Swan River.

Save Perth Hills hopes the Bill will procede from the upper house and through the lower house and into law before the next election in March.

Contact your local member and ask them to vote for it.

EMRC is at it again. This time they've not only moved the goal posts, they've changed stadiums. Two months after the public submission period ended for the Environmental Report on the location for the proposed Resource Recovery Facility, they have announced (in the minutes of their Oct. 3 Red Hill Community Liason Meeting), that they have an option to buy Boral's old quarry a kilometre from the original site with the intention to relocate the site there. They intend to do this without revising the Environmental Report, irregardless that it is different ground, different geology, different wind patterns, different flora and fauna, different neighbours, and requires a new truck entrance/exit onto already hazardous Toodyay Rd. And under a technicality (Section 45C) the Environment Minister can do this with a signature.

If this upsets you, you can contact the EPA:  'submissions@epa.wa.gov.au', the Environment Minister Bill Marmion, and your local member,

Trek the Trails participants enjoyed beautiful weather this year.  Save Perth Hills attended the fair at the end of the trail and distributed free Save Perth's Hills car stickers.  If you received one, please make sure it finds it's way onto the rear window of your car.  Consider it a rolling petition. And if you feel strongy about preserving the Hills, contact your local Member of Parliament

The Perth Hills Planning Bill is designed to address the Hills biggest issues such as inappropriate development, destructive quarrying, mining and logging, and the introduction of toxic incinerators at waste tips.
 
Currently the Hills are governed by 7 separate cities and shires, each with different sensibilities and agendas. The Bill would unify the Hills into a Hills Region at a level above local government. Development would be reviewed by a committee of appointed experts applying a set of principles that would preserve current social and economic institutions, and the environment. The committee’s recommendations would have to be addressed by state and local
government. 

The Bill is up for debate in State Parliament this year.  Please contact your local member and let them know you support the Bill. Without public pressure, the Bill will not pass.  The State election is in March, the MPs will listen.

To read the actual text of the bill, click the Planning Bill drop down at the top of this page.

Should we support Incineration in the East Metro Region?
Is it renewable Energy?
Is our health at risk?
Community Info Session, Saturday 15th September, 2-5 pm,
Mechanics Institute, Meadow St., Guildford.
EMRC Resource Recovery Facility public submission period ends 17th Sept.
Hear a public interest perspective and get help making a submission.
Brought to you by the Alliance for a Clean Envionment Inc.

    A presentation by Wheatbelt Railway Retention Alliance co-ordinator Jane Fuchsbichler was held at the Hub in Mundaring, Tuesday 27 June.  Attending  were heads of many ratepayers groups, Shire councillors,  MPs from Labor and the Greens.  No Members from the Liberal Party attended.
               
     The Tier 3 railroad system that has for decades moved  grain
from the wheat belt east of Perth, is about to be shut down, putting hundreds of trucks on the roads between Brookton and Northam, and the coastal ports. This will have a negative effect on road safety and traffic, tear up the road beds and will consume an additional hundred-fifty-thousand litres of fuel per year which will pollute the air and contribute to climate change. 

    The State-owned system was privatised in 2000. Brookfield, the Canadian company that owns it, says it would cost too much to repair the track so they are closing it down. WA exports 12 million tonnes of grain a year, much of it through the port at Kwinana. The trains currently move thru the city to the ports with little impact.  The trucks will drive down Brookton Highway and Grt. Eastern Highway, then Roe Highway to Russell Road
                 
     The Government has refused to subsidise the repairs for $93 million, which is less than the cost of the Great Eastern Highway-Roe Highway intersection, a fifth the price of the new Foreshore development, and a tenth the price of the new Footy Oval.  The wear and tear alone on the roads used by the grain trucks will amount to that in a few years. A billion dollars in Royalties’ to Regions money is sitting waiting to be used, but the Nationals who control it aren’t interested. Ironically, CBH, the grain hauler, just purchased a new fleet of trains.
             
This makes no sense, environmentally, socially, or economically.