Welcome back to our regular feature, Rarely a dull moment with Gayle O’Leary, where we report on the highlights of Council’s regular, now fortnightly, meetings. We would have titled the feature Never a dull moment, but didn’t want to overpromise!
There it is, readers. The last Council meeting for the year. And what a massive year it has been. Fremantle will see no small amount of change resulting from the pivotal decisions made and projects undertaken during 2025.
All in the push to revitalise our streets by attracting more people, preferably out of their cars, and a healthy mix of culture, activity, business, and construction to keep our communities dynamic and resilient. This year also brought key decisions to protect, integrate, and enhance the natural environment in the face of innumerable challenges that grow ever more difficult to counter. Noted that things didn’t always go smoothly. But it was fascinating to watch.
That’s probably enough of a summary from me.
As for the last Council meeting of the year, some were eager to wrap up civic duties as tidily as possible before Christmas, which may have explained the remarkably short meeting run time of a mere hour and a half. Handy for covering it, so my thanks to the Council and admin staff.
Cr Williamson-Wong decided to end the year with a bang, introducing alternative recommendations for three of the items, and her trademark polite passion to back them up. Those three items are (1) the temporary carpark to have better connections to Quarry Street and Fremantle Park; (2) pedestrian crossings along South Terrace (I did see a fantastic experiment in Quebec used to protect zebra crossing users which I bet South Fremantle locals would love); and (3) advocacy for improving mobility and safety during the bridge closure, which Cr Clark echoed with her own amendment, and Cr Graham backed up with eagle-eyed scrutiny. (The CEO confessed he expected we’ll be “drip fed” answers regarding the outcome of the bridge closure from the State after he and the Mayor meet with the Deputy Premier on 11 December 2025).
Courtesy of Aishwarya Agarwal 1/20/2022 – Self-Raising Quebec SAAQ Pedestrian Crossings
During the Elected Member Communication slot of the agenda, Cr Clarke discussed the Pier 21 Marina on the river in North Fremantle and the current $10 million redevelopment proposal which extends six new jetties further into the river by an additional 15 to 20 metres at the narrowest point. “River use, ecology and amenity” represent the primary aspects of her concern. 14 jet ski bays are also proposed to be included where previously they were none, and the size of boats of up to 24m length may also be problematic. There are no public toilets or overflow carparking as it was “never intended to function as a yacht club”, according to Cr Clark. Cr Clark and Cr van Dorssen (whom was absent in the room but still watching the livestream) will be writing in to the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions on the matter. More details available here.
Obtained from the DBCA website, lasted updated 30/07/2025
Not one to ever miss an opportunity to discuss procedure, Cr Graham challenged whether the response to the Pier 21 Marina was a legitimate use of the Elected Member Communication time as it concerns an item that is “currently important” to the councillor who raised it and concerns a matter that will be returning to Council anyway. Mayor Lawver advised that it is unlikely the item will be returning to Council and he prefers to give elected members broad leeway when it comes to Elected Member Communication. Not unlike Cr Graham’s query regarding the Henderson Street Mall removal of paid parking bays in November.
A few mysterious late agenda items popped up, one relating to contracts for cleaning civic spaces and the other, more spicy, piece related to a complaint relating to elected member conduct which two community members asked about during Public Question Time. All confidential. One can only guess for the time being.
The entirety of the agenda and associated materials can be viewed here for those who are interested in a bit of extra summer reading.
HIGH STREET, NO. 1-4/64 (LOT 50), FREMANTLE – PARTIAL CHANGE OF USE TO HOTEL AND INTERNAL ALTERATIONS
This represents a minor expansion of the approved hotel use for the site which currently hosts the Jazz and Navy Clubs, in case any of you were scratching your heads and asking “haven’t we already seen this?”
“Bitches Brew”, is the reply. Read on.
Obtained from the Council report attachments for 10 December 2025
Representative Julius Skinner spoke on behalf of applicant Thomson Geer to the proposal. The application arises because one of the ground floor tenancies adjoining the previous approval became available for use (farewell Bitches Brew, who have left us for Coogee), which precipitated the proposed amendment. Mr Skinner noted the officer recommendation for approval and overall support for the proposal, and pointed out a minor correction to condition 4 to be tidied up regarding the presence of multiple strata lots onsite.
There will also be two new dormitory rooms (13 beds), but not necessarily a net increase in guests, and there will be a reduction in the area of the communal room on the second floor. The proposal does not alter the previously approved rooftop bar deck area.
A Waste Management Plan and concept Operations Management Plan will be required as conditions of approval to address guest behaviour.
Council discretion was required to consider:
• Land use (Hotel is an ‘A’ use in the City Centre Zone, meaning Council discretion is required)
• Car and bicycle parking (one bay required for one new bedroom)
• Alterations and additions (partial ground and second floors)
Cr Mofflin expressed his opinion that this opportunity results in a “practical internal reorganization which will help the operation flow a lot better”, and therefore he thoroughly supports the officer recommendation. Mayor Lawver also noted the potential for loud music adjoining sleeping quarters to suggestions on how they might tackle that in the future coming.
The proponent provided amended plans on 12 November 2025 in response to heritage-related concerns regarding the design of the shopfront facing High Street needing to reflect the historic shopfront styles present in the West End of Fremantle. Interior modifications to the original c1910 and former Bank of Adelaide building are of lesser concern given that the building was heavily reconstructed after a fire during the 1980s.
Obtained from the Council report attachments for 10 December 2025
The revised proposal was advertised again, with three objections received. They are summarised as follows:
• “Overcrowding of people in the surrounding area placing pressure on local amenities and public infrastructure/ transport.
• Increased noise disturbance for surrounding residents.
• The use of the rooftop area for a bar/ common area will result in additional noise disturbance.
• Insufficient car parking provided.
• Impacts to the existing heritage significance and shop fronts of the building.
• Concern over impact to the existing heritage listed building.
• Increase in antisocial behaviour.”
Nonetheless, given that the changes in this proposal do not materially impact the source of the objector concerns the officer and author of the report conclude that “all of the key elements of objection were raised in the previous planning application (DA0355/24) determined and approved by Council at its Ordinary July 2025 meeting”.
Council resolved (with Cr Clark against) to support the officer recommendation that it:
APPROVE, under the Metropolitan Region Scheme and Local Planning Scheme No. 4, Partial Change of Use to Hotel and Alterations to existing building at No. 1-4/64 (Lot 50) High Street, Fremantle, subject to ten conditions and thirteen footnotes (too lengthy to repeat here).
POLICY REVIEW – CONTINUED
As regular readers might recall, on 12 February 2025 Council received the proposed timeline for a comprehensive review of the City’s Local Planning Policy framework in order to make planning matters simpler for the public and officers to navigate.
We have seen a substantial number of policies brought before Council since then, gradually shrinking the list of policies down and updating them to reflect modern planning practices.
Many of these current policies are proposed to be advertised to the public in February 2026.
Which may explain why none of the councillors elected to discuss them at tonight’s meeting, with the exception of LPP 1.7 – Exemptions, and choose to move them en bloc.
Cr Williamson-Wong discussed the implications of changing LPP 1.7 as quite a big change, particularly in respect to small bars, which she recognises are hard to establish but their siting amongst other land uses can be a sensitive matter especially in respect to noise impact, hence the removal of their exemption in the city centre.
She also observed the change in language emerging in these policies, effectively softening their enforceability, as a direct result of State Government manner and form requirements affecting all local government planning policies. To put that another way, they are “due regard” which means that they are required to be considered but can be varied and overruled. Thus, we will see a culling of “shall” and “must” in local planning policies, and their replacement with “may” or “should”, for instance.
The local planning policies discussed at this meeting are as follows:
– Draft Local Planning Policy 3.1: Fremantle City Centre and Northern Gateway (a consolidation of three existing policies into a single new policy, with public consultation)
Obtained from the Council report for 10 December 2025
– New Local Planning Policy 3.2: Security Screens in the City Centre Zone (replacing older local planning policy DE3: Security Doors to Shopfronts in the Retail Core, with public consultation)
– Local Planning Policy Review (Various) – South Fremantle
This involves updating Local Planning Policy DGS6 South Beach Village and renaming it to LPP 3.7: South Beach Village with public consultation; updating Local Planning Policy 3.14 Wray Avenue Precinct (not to be advertised as the changes are administrative only); and revoking redundant Local Planning Policy DGS5 Wills Transport Site – 122 Marine Terrace and 3 South Street, South Fremantle) as the site has been fully redeveloped.
Obtained from the Council report attachments for 10 December 2025
– Amendments To Local Planning Policy 1.7: Development Exempt from Approval (updating the existing policy for clarity and currency, and expanding upon planning exemptions, with public consultation)
– Amendments To Local Planning Policy 2.8: Fences (updating for currency and to address gaps, with public consultation)
– Amendments To Local Planning Policy 2.14: Advertisements (updating for currency and to address gaps, with public consultation)
Council unanimously resolved to support the officer recommendation for the affected policies to be revoked, advertised to the public, or amended without advertising, as applicable.
IN OTHER NEWS
Council discussed at length the construction of a temporary car park off 7-15 Quarry Street to mitigate reduced parking available at Beach Street due to Public Transport Authority works.
Obtained from the Council report attachments for 10 December 2025
We also heard an update on delivery of the Kaarl Boyak Naariny (Fire is Burning on the Rocks) public artwork by Sharyn Egan and Simon Gilby for Walyalup Koort authorising the CEO to enter the City into a contract for its delivery subject to minor paving adjustments while the City works on a land use agreement with adjoining St John’s Anglican Church.
Obtained from the Council report attachments for 10 December 2025
Also, Council received a petition with approximately 950 signatures for additional pedestrian crossings along South Terrace and received an information report on advocacy for bridge closure as alluded to at the beginning of this write up. Various financial matters to close out the year were discussed. And there are no shortage of committee meetings and civic matters to deliberate over, which I won’t dive into the details of but I’ll simply point out they include:
– Working Group Information Report (Cr Slaughter spoke very positively to this in respect to the Walyalup Reconciliation Action Group and their desire to meet later in the day to allow for more discussion time and noted they are looking forward to discussing road naming in the future)
– Audit of the Annual Financial Statements 30 June 2025
– Audit Actions Update – October 2025
– Emerging Issues Report – September to November 2025
– Review Of Systems and Procedures by the Chief Executive Officer Required by Regulation 17
– Procurement Policy Exemptions September to October 2025
– Tenders Awarded Under Delegation September to October 2025
– Overdue Debtors Report as at 31 October 2025
– Grants And Sponsorships Funding Report
– Fines Enforcement Registry (FER) Unrecoverable Fines
– Local Emergency Management Committee Update – October 2025
So there is your (partial) answer the next time a friend or family member or your local cashier asks “what on earth do local governments even do, other than roads, rates, and rubbish?”
“We bring order to chaos by injecting a little of our own”, I always retort.
CHEERIO
Some of you already know that after two years of RADM’ing, I am hanging up my hat and passing it on to another intrepid FSN reporter whose identity shall be revealed shortly. Covering these meetings is a fair bit of work, albeit rewarding, and I am looking forward to using the extra time to find other interesting tidbits to write about. There’s no shortage of those in Fremantle after all.
A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. See you around in Freo!
* By Gayle O’Leary. If you’d like to catch up on more by Gayle here on Fremantle Shipping News, look right here!
*Editor’s note: Fremantle Shipping News is most grateful to Gayle O’Leary for accepting the challenge of reporting on the regular meetings of Freo Council. After two years she is retiring from the LGA – local government – beat. We look forward to introducing our new LGA reporter soon. But never fear, you will still be able to read Gayle’s lively contributions on FSN on what’s happening in Freo in the new year.
* If you’d like to COMMENT on this or any of our stories, don’t hesitate to email our Editor.
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