Why is high density a problem?

Creeping urbanisation

Small pockets of development may seem like an effective way of controlling urban sprawl.  However, once Town Planning Schemes are modified to allow dense development, the opportunity for further such development is irresistible.  Council’s have an inbuilt desire to expand their empires and developers know that the financial returns from high density development are outstanding. 

Throughout Western Australia rural land is being rezoned to urban, often against the wishes of those who own the land, but who are powerless to do anything about it. 

·        Armadale Council intends rezoning land in the Canning Valley near Araluen to accommodate a 200 unit multi storey resort.  When the Araluen Country Club development was approved they said that this land would always remain rural. (read the article in the Armadale Examiner)

·        The Hills around Kalamunda are gradually being covered by brick and tile (read the article in the Echo)

·        A rural wildlife corridor in High Wycombe is about to be zoned urban and developed. (read the article in the Echo)

·        Rural land around Ellenbrook has been rezoned to urban in order to accommodate more development. 

·        Parts of Whiteman Park face a similar fate. 

These are merely isolated examples of creeping urbanisation.

Market pressure to develop the Hills is steadily increasing. In an article in the West Australian Oct.2006  on the demand for a “tree change”, Gavin Hegney of the Hegney Property Group “…named the Perth Hills areas as the next big thing because they offered a “green” lifestyle similar to that of the South West.” 

The Health System

Everyone living in a very large circle drawn around Midland will be adversely affected if these developments go ahead

WILL THE HEALTH SYSTEM COPE?

The hardworking Mundaring Medical Centre knows the difficulties of getting doctors to practice in the Hills – their Mount Helena surgery has had to close. A surgery in Chidlow completed almost 3 years ago stands empty having never seen a patient due to the inability to attract medical staff.

The CEO of the Perth and Hills Division of General Practice stated in October 2005 that doctors in the Hills region currently deal with 2½ times as many patients as their metropolitan counterparts. He added that “current populations in the Hills area do not receive optimal access to primary health care – a situation that can only get worse if we as a community cannot match General Practice and allied health supply to population growth”.

An article in the West Australian September 2006 highlights the findings of a survey comparing the number of patients per doctor in various metropolitan post codes. Doctors in Parkerville, Darlington and Gidgegannup, for example, deal with 10 times as many patients as their inner city colleagues. Guildford does not have a GP at all.

Furthermore, Swan District Hospital is already under extreme pressure and Royal Perth Hospital is set to close. Dr. Paul Skerritt, State President of the AMA, has stated on ABC’s Stateline 22-7-05 that “Swan District, like a lot of the peripheral hospitals, finds it very difficult to attract staff….at the moment, the reason Swan District is surviving is because of the great deal of support from Royal Perth.” That will disappear when Royal Perth closes.

Swan District Hospital is due to be upgraded because the Hospital is already struggling to meet demand. An extra 120 beds will barely cope with the extra demand caused by the closure of Royal Perth and the redevelopment of Midland, let alone the extra thousands of people that the new developments would house. (The population of Mundaring Shire alone is projected to rise from 34,000 to to 53,350 [Council Minutes 10-6-97]). How will they attract the medical staff more effectively than they do now? These new townsites will mean huge population increases.
(Read the Mailbag...)

No matter how many extra doctors graduate, or how many surgeries are built, doctors do not choose to live near Midland or in the Hills. 

Crime

Currently the hills are a low-crime area. Dense housing and crime go hand in hand. Whether you are living in South Perth, Cottesloe, Ellenbrook, Midland or any other densely developed suburb, crime is an unpleasant fact. We have been told that increased population will mean that the number of police will increase, and solve the problem of increased crime. If this is true, where would these extra police come from as there is presently a shortage of police in the metropolitan area?

Crime will increase in the Hills. Will our Police Force increase to meet the demand?

 

Does suburbia work in a rural setting?

·        Let's consider Ellenbrook as an example. In spite of a housing shortage, Ellenbrook, 13 years after development began, has sold only 47% of the projected number of lots to date. In this last year of housing boom it has only managed to sell 104 lots · 346 less than the year before. (see Ellenbrook Economic Impact Study)  This is a development with community centres, schools, a large shopping centre, libraries and sports facilities. It now has to advertise on television to attract buyers.

• Fifteen years ago, the Araluen Golf Course Estate developers predicted the 330 housing blocks would all be built on in 8 - 10 years.  At the time, there were over 900 submissions from the community, most of them rejecting the proposal, but it went ahead anyway because of all the supposed benefits.  15 years later approximately half the blocks remain undeveloped.  It was considered such an important development, one that the community just had to have, yet it went broke losing around $20M.  The new owners now want to develop another resort along the Canning River and include in their plans a proposal to pump treated effluent into the river.  This is proposed on a steep property that was to remain undeveloped.  The owners have not even finished developing the present resort and can scarcely maintain what they already have. 

The City of Joondalup has no shortage of dense development. However a few years ago there were rate increases as high as 25%. Will development lower your rates? A study by Curtin University completed in August 2006 found that half of the State’s councils are financially unsustainable, and that currently they have $1.75 billion of dept due to infrastructure costs (read article in West Australian). Many of the most in-debt Councils are ones that have experienced the most development. Expected increases in rates revenue is more than offset by increased infrastructure costs. However the idea still persists that development is the answer to council’s financial woes. The Mundaring Shire CEO, Jonathan Throssell, recently expressed this view in an interview with the Hills Gazette.  Quote: “Personally I think Perth is exhausted by growing north and south, and the only way to go now is east.”

The City of Swan presented a report to Council (30-11-05) concerning a shortfall in their projected rates income from the Ellenbrook development. It states that “If lot sales had met the developers expectations…..the City may have expected to achieve an additional $16.8 million over the project life to date leading to a cumulative surplus of $12.7 million as against a deficit of $4.14 million”. That’s a big price to pay for getting it wrong! [read What the Papers say...]

They are now discussing various ways to recover this money - from the developers? - No, from the ratepayers. In 1993 the Council made a contribution towards roads etc. based on advice given by the developer’s engineers believing that ”…Council rate income from the development would be considerable in the long term”. Alas, only 47% of the projected number of lots have been sold – what started as an attractive bushland development no longer has the same appeal. In reality it is a high density development in an isolated location.

What is the solution?

• There are ways that we can preserve the social, cultural and environmental aspects of our community without obstructing development. However, it needs to be appropriate and reflect the current Hills Lifestyle. Blocks need to be no smaller than 5 acres, thereby placing less impact on the environment and the social structure.

Subdivisions in our water catchments are inappropriate given Perth's water crisis.

• We are currrently seeking legal protection for an area of the Perth Hills from approximately from Muchea to Serpentine. This has already in place for the Adelaide Hills and Melbourne's Dandenong ranges. See the 'Perth Hills Vision' and please forward your comments to info@saveperthhills.org

Can we make a difference – You bet!

• Delayed the Parkerville and Stoneville developments since 1997
• Delayed the building of the Mundaring Water Treatment Plant
• Ellenbrook scaled down from 50,000 to 28,000
• Leda placed on the National Estate as determined in the Hague (equivalent to the Bungle Bungles and the Great Barrier Reef)
• The best part of Hepburn Heights saved after taking the State Government to the Supreme Court and the High Court in Canberra and winning
• Protective legislation for the Swan Valley
• Tourism grants for the Swan Valley
• Logging of old growth forest minimised
• Ningaloo Reef saved from some kinds of development

If these groups working on their own have achieved this, can you imagine what we can do together?

Can you imagine what we can do with your help?