THE END OF PLANNING?

Fremantle continues to be assailed by developments that offend against the values its citizens hold most dear: human scale, heritage and community. Prime current examples are the Spicer’s site in central Fremantle, and the ‘Three Oceans’ proposal for the former Ford factory (aka Matilda Bay Brewery) site, at Stirling Highway/McCabe Street, North Fremantle.

Here’s an impression of the proposed hotel development on the Spicer’s site.

And here’s an impression of what’s in mind for the old Ford factory/Matilda Bay Brewery site.

And this architectural perspective drawing gives you a full picture of the sheer height of what will overlook the retained old Ford factory.

The latter could scarcely offend more if had been designed with that in mind. Its tower blocks insensitively overpower the beautiful, heritage listed, Art Deco former factory offices, destroying their landmark presence, and a floor is added at the expense of an original roof line. The blocks themselves rise above a two-storey podium (to accommodate cars), presenting a barrier to entry as formidable as that of any mediaeval city wall, though lacking any of their majesty. Its excessive ‘entertainment’ venues and their attendant traffic will act to further alienate its occupants from the welcoming character of its long-established neighbourhood.

This contagion is, however, not limited to Fremantle. Witness the gross intrusions proposed into the Cottesloe ocean front streetscape.

Architects impression of development on Ocean Beach Hotel site, Cottesloe

And then there’s 368 apartments proposed for the Chellingworth site opposite the Windsor Theatre in Stirling Highway, Nedlands.

Architects impression of the Heart of Nedlands proposal

These developments are all captured by the Government-dominated Development Assessment Panel, to which reference is mandated for all developments of estimated value exceeding $10 million. The DAPs are ‘intended to enhance planning expertise in decision making by improving the balance between technical advice and local knowledge’.

One way to help them achieve this laudable aim should be through State Planning Commission approved Structure Plans, which are applied to areas that are already identified as locations for growth, to:
* set out where and how this growth and development will occur;
* ensure development is located and managed appropriately; and
* ensure that infrastructure and services will meet the needs of the current and future residents,
to which developers must have ‘due regard’ but are not compulsory.

But it gets worse. If the development exceeds $20 million it can be referred to the State Planning Commission’s State Development Assessment Unit where it will be decided by government bureaucrats who only have to consult each other.

So there we have it. Dollar trumps process. Francis Fukuyama posited that with the ascendancy of Western liberal democracy – which occurred after the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union – humanity has reached “not just… the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the End of History as such”.

Are we seeing, with the ascendency of commercial interest, not just the dissolution of the influence of local governments and their communities on their own environment, but the End of Planning as such?

* By Gerry MacGill & Ann Forma, North Fremantle Community Association

While you’re here –