Rarely A Dull Moment - What we learned at the Planning Services Committee of 5 August 2026

Welcome back to our regular feature, Rarely a Dull Moment where we report on the highlights of City of Fremantle Council and occasionally Committee meetings and other activities. We would have titled the feature Never a Dull Moment, but didn’t want to overpromise!

In 2026, we are very pleased to welcome Jenny Archibald to the RADM desk. Jenny will be well known to many Freo folk as a former Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Councillor of the City of Fremantle. Jenny brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her new role as our RADM reporter and we are sure Shipees will look forward to her regular RADM reports.

Welcome readers to our RADM report for the Planning Services Committee 5 August 2026, plus an update on the windup of another significant project.

WINDUP OF RESOURCES RECOVERY GROUP

Perhaps first we will look at the windup of the Resource Recovery Group. The group ceased trading as an entity on 30 November 2025, with the Canning Vale facility now run by private operator, ReGroup Pty Ltd under a joint arrangement with the Cities of Canning, Melville and Fremantle. A windup celebration was held last week for the final group members and staff from the then participating Councils of Melville, East Fremantle and Fremantle, as well as a few folk involved earlier. Melville Councillor Karen Wheatland, who was the last Chair of the group, reviewed the history and aspirations of the group over its journey of 25 years – beginning in 2001.

However, for former City of Fremantle Councillor Doug Thompson, who attended the event, this journey started well before that. Doug was elected to Fremantle Council in 1988 and stayed for 37 years! Council records from the late 1980s showed that Doug was right in the thick of discussions of how recycling could be introduced to Fremantle – keen to convince councillors of the day that it was all worthwhile. This was happening at a time when tin bins were placed on the verge and the truck driver would stop while his offsider would collect and tip its contents into the truck. The firstrecycling was of newspapers – no reading of online news backthen. Newspapers were prolific! They were stacked on the verge on recycling day, with a brick on top to stop the Freo Doctor from spreading them about.

Doug persevered, and along with many others the work of the Group led to vastly increased waste recovery and recycling. Today this includes the 3-bin system with recycling materials, green waste and residual waste. For the latter, a good part now goes to the waste-to-energy plant in Kwinana. Where once pretty much 100% of household waste went to landfill, in 2024/2025 it was less than 20%.

As Cr Wheatland summarised at the farewell, “That vision was remarkable for its time. Long before “circular economy” became common language, the people who built this organisation understood that waste was not simply something to bury. …. At its height, seven member councils represented hundreds of thousands of residents across the southern metropolitan region. Together, they backed one of the most ambitious local government waste projects undertaken in Western Australia”.

Karen also put in a plug for the presence of women involved in the RRG – with its final RRG Council being all female – something she was very chuffed about. Its last members were Cr Karen Wheatland, former Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge, former CouncillorJane Edinger and yours truly – certainly a switch from the first group membership. Hats off to the many visionaries who persisted throughout those 25 years!

WHAT HAPPENED AT PLANNING SERVICES COMMITTEE?

Now to our Planning Services Committee of 5 August, and with no Petitions, Presentations nor Elected Member Communication, questions from the public were generally focussed on specifics of the planning applications, other than the concern expressed by Freo resident Natalie Hug regarding Item PSC2608-12 REQUEST FOR COMMENT ON THE METROPOLITAN REGION SCHEME AMENDMENT TO LIFT THE URBAN DEFERRED ZONE IN NORTH FREMANTLE. This is a topic of considerable concern for many, including our elected members.

The Headline Story – in two parts

PSC2608-11 COASTAL HAZARD RISK MANAGEMENT ADAPTATION PLAN – WORKING GROUP MEMBERSHIPand PSC2608-12 REQUEST FOR COMMENT ON THE METROPOLITAN REGION SCHEME AMENDMENT TO LIFT THE URBAN DEFERRED ZONE IN NORTH FREMANTLE are both going on to the next Council meeting for further consideration. While the first is to nominate elected members to the working group for the Coastal Hazard Risk Management Plan, both items relate to long standing issues for the City of Fremantle. This relates particularly to longer term foreshore management particularly with anticipated erosion and sea level rise.

The great news is that the City was awarded a grant of $175,000 in grant funding from the State Government Coastal Management Plan Assistance Program to develop a Coastal Hazard Risk Management and Adaptation Plan (CHRMAP). The CHRMAP, co-funded by the City, will help identify coastal hazards, asset vulnerability and community coastal values to define and prioritise appropriate responses along the Fremantle coastline, including the coastal erosion hotspot Port Beach and river estuarine areas. In addition, the City has budgeted for $175,000 of municipal funds over the next three years to also support the project – area defined in map below. A Steering Committee (to be known as a Working Group) is to provide technical coastal and planning skills to the Applicant and ensure the project progresses in line with milestone reports and progress reports. Its membership will be one representative of the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure, one representative of Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, one representative of the Fremantle Community, one Elected Member of Council and two representatives of the City of Fremantle (staff). The elected member appointment will be determined at the next Council meeting.

The committee discussed the impact of both items which are very much related. With Cr Slaughter noting “while lots of work had been done…we need to be very clear that the work is still being finalised…and we need to maintain the current status until things have been fully explored and defined”. Cr Mofflin was of the view that more information was required of the State Government and Cr Sullivan commented “we can have the best will in the world, but are they listening?” With Cr Sullivan a veteran of the planning for this peninsular, he reiterated a need for “a regional vs intraregional transport plan. If they can’t do it …then let us do it”. Stating concerns whether “any further work to assess regional recreational requirements” had been done, he added that they needed to “make the foreshore reserve big enough for all….at the end of a 100-year horizon”. Noting that sea levels are predicted to rise considerably by the end of the century, getting sufficient buffer to the foreshore will be critical.

Both items will be discussed again at the next Council meeting, but for many it may be a frustrating revisit to issues of many years – for both local residents and Council.

The second item is for lifting the urban deferred status for an adjacent area to the CHRMAP work discussed above. While the City is supportive of the general approach to change the land use from industrial to urban… it …has also been consistent in its commentary that key planning issues must be better resolved prior to lifting the ‘Urban Deferred’ status. The key matters that remain inadequately resolved to date are: • Coastal Planning / Development Setbacks • Integrated Transport Plan for North Fremantle. While some of the issues relating to longer term planning of this area have been more fully addressed, two key areas have not – that is confirmation of regional road and transport requirements and confirmation of the coastal foreshore reserve requirements. The recommendation, which was supported by the Planning Services Committee members, held the view that until these issues have been adequately resolved it would seem inappropriate to lift the Urban Deferred Status at this stage.

And everything else –

• An application for a carpark – PSC2608-1 NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY CAR PARKS (3 HIGH STREET, NO. 22 MARINE TERRACE & 11-25 MOUAT STREET, FREMANTLE) – VARIATION TO DA00210/24 (PARTIAL CHANGE OF USE TO PUBLIC CAR PARK) which the Committee supported and will now be considered by Council

• A front fence application for PSC2608-2 SOUTH TERRACE, NO. 193 (LOT 1), SOUTH FREMANTLE – PRIMARY AND SECONDARY STREET FENCE ADDITION TO EXISTING SINGLE HOUSE where the residents are seeking approval for a high front and side fence which is contrary to local policy for front fences. This item was deferred to allow further consideration of options to resolve the desired outcome of greater privacy on a busy street.

• Six applications for unhosted short stay accommodation. Three were approved by the committee with the inclusion of an amendment that approval is for a 12-month period to see how it all goes (PSC2608-5 FOTHERGILL STREET, NO. 27B(LOT 82), FREMANTLE – CHANGE OF USE TO UNHOSTED SHORT-TERM RENTAL ACCOMMODATION, PSC2608-7 EDMUND STREET, NO. 8/105 (LOT 8), FREMANTLE – CHANGE OF USE TO SHORT TERM RENTAL ACCOMODATION, SUFFOLK STREET, NO. 5 (LOT 3), FREMANTLE – CHANGE OF USE TO UNHOSTED SHORT-TERM RENTAL ACCOMODATION). Another was similarly supported butresulted in a 3:2 vote by the committee (PSC2608-4KNUTSFORD STREET, NO. 17/5 (LOT 17), FREMANTLE – CHANGE OF USE TO UNHOSTED SHORT-TERM RENTAL ACCOMMODATION). It must now go to the Council meeting for a decision as a committee determination requires a minimum of 4 votes in favour of a motion. And two (PSC2608-6 ADELAIDE STREET NO 304/23 (LOT 38) FREMANTLE – CHANGE OF USE TO UNHOSTED SHORT TERM RENTAL ACCOMMODATION and PSC2608-9 PAKENHAM STREET, NO. 6/37 (LOT 6), FREMANTLE – CHANGE OF USE TO UNHOSTED SHORT-TERM RENTAL ACCOMMODATION) were refused by alternate motions put forward by councillors to the meeting, in contrast with the Officers recommendations for approval. Overall, it seemed that including a 12-months clause provided some reassurancethat there was recourse should operation of unhostedaccommodation prove problematic. It is worth noting that Cr Slaughter was on task tonight, stating “we need to think critically on how these unhosted short stays are affecting our city”.

• A complex second story roof extension which increased overshadowing of the adjacent neighbour’s property(PSC2608-3 MANNING STREET, NO. 5 (LOT 28) – UNAUTHORISED ROOF SHEETING ADDITION TO FIRST FLOOR TERRACE). The committee was somewhat divided on this one with a vote of 3:2 in favour of refusing the application. Again, with insufficient votes supporting the refusal, it was deferred for consideration at the next Council meeting.

• And a planning report for August 2026 (PSC2608-10 PLANNING INFORMATION REPORT – AUGUST 2026) which includes an update on DAP and State Administrative Tribunal applications.

Signed off at 19.58pm. Goodnight Freo.

*By Jenny Archibald