Rarely A Dull Moment - What happened at the Strategic Planning Committee on 12 August?

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 on the Strategic Plan img Committee of 12 August 2026.

Welcome readers to our RADM report for the 12 August 2026. A good portion of this Strategic Planning Committee meeting’s deliberations will go on to the next Ordinary Meeting of Council on 26 August. Only one question was put during Public Question Time, which related to the absence of the usual event for the Pride Month celebrations. Pete Stone, Director of Creative Arts and Community answered, noting that stakeholders had been informed and that “a suite of smaller Pride Month events are planned, using the (Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre) and the City of Fremantle Library…..These will have a youth-focused program andwill run over four weeks. And a review will follow with consideration of whether this format or a single large event in 2027 is preferable”.

With no Petitions, Deputations nor Presentations, the Minutes of the Strategic and General Services Committee of 8 July were approved, then on to Committee Member Communication:

• Cr Camarda praised the City of Fremantle events team (which Cr Camarda later described as “fantastic”), Fremantle City Football Club and volunteers for the CalcioItaliano event tie-in with Palermo Football Club. And

• Mayor Lawver noted a visit from 17 Japanese exchange students and thanked staff for a Homelessness Week panel discussion with service providers.

THE HEADLINE STORY

Given the meeting only lasted for 35 minutes, and all of the recommendations were approved either as is or modestly amended, there was one very big item in the room – SGSC2608-7 ADOPTION OF THE LONG-TERM FINANCIAL PLAN 2026- 2036. Why was this significant you might ask, given there was absolutely no debate other than praise by elected members for the diligent work of staff. Well, Fremantle has been noted for its efforts to consult with community and stakeholders over the years…accepting that the outcomes are not always what some people were seeking. Yep – it’s a democracy but…..when the previous 2025-2026 long term financial plan was approved on 25 June 2025, what do we think when projects planned for the next 2 to 5 years are suddenly removed?? To explain – and I acknowledge this is a favourite – here is the project list from page 203 of the proposed 20262036 financial plan that you can access here.

And below is the 2025-2026 long term financial plan approved by council on 25 June 2025.

Of particular note in the 2025 2026 plan were inclusion of two much longed for Booyeembara Park projects (the ephemeral wetland and upgrade of the story-telling circle). These projects are listed below in the detail of first five years of the Booyeembara Plan:

And yet in the new 2026-2036 Long Term Financial Plan program for Booyeembara Parkthey are again deferred, only 12 month later, with the introduction of a skate park?

After some 26 years of planning for this amazing “rewilding” environment, surely we can install this long-planned wetland (the hole is already dug) and finally revitalise the sad looking story telling circle? Species of critters there now include the local long-necked turtle, wrens, yabbies and all sorts of others. The former wetland was a part of the original Booyeembara Plan of 1999 – see below:

And just to inspire you – this is what this land used to look like at the start of the project:

With an amazing journey of collaboration, we now have this invaluable asset for our community. It was described in recent Council consultation documents as “one of Fremantle’s most unique and valued public open spaces….’Boo Park’ has a rich and layered history shaped through long term collaboration between community, Council and consultants. Over the past 28 years, this collective effort has transformed the site from its former life as a limestone quarry and municipal tip into a cherished place where nature, recreation, culture and community combine.” But for these last long-planned projects to then be deferred yet again, and for a number of years, is such a disappointment.

This Item will go to the next Council meeting on 26^th August so still time to have a read – all sorts of projects are in this long and comprehensive document spreading across all aspects of our council operations, and while it is always a work in progress, it is still a very important one for our City.

AND EVERYTHING ELSE:

For the items which the committee had delegated authority to determine, the following were approved unanimously – SGSC2608-1 DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN – MID TERM REPORTING, SGSC2608-2 REVIEW COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CRIME PREVENTION PLAN 2026-31 (approving the amended Officers recommendation) and SGSC2608-3 REVIEW OF ALFRESCO DINING LOCAL LAW.

Item SGSC2608-4 REVIEW OF CAT MANAGEMENT LOCAL LAW – well discussion here put a bit of a bit of “a cat among the proverbial” – albeit a relatively modest cat at that. While revision of the WA State Government cat laws will go before Parliament this week, there was discussion on whether revision of the Cat Management Local Law before Council should be deferred until the State Government process has been determined. While the Mayor moved a motion to defer the item until this had occurred, it was clear that it would still take some time for any final outcome from State Government, and thus the motion was not supported. Following that, the Mayor moved a minor amendment to bring this item back within 6 months to reflect on possible outcomes of Parliament. With this approved, the item as amended was supported by all other than big cat supporter, Cr Graham, who has never been in favour of the cat management agenda.

For the final item dealt with under delegated authority, SGSC2608-5 AREA-WIDE 40KM/H SPEED ZONE TRIAL – HILTON NEIGHBOURHOOD was a review of the 40km/h speed zone trial in Hilton and to consider the results of the trial prior to consideration of a ‘City-wide’ 40km/h zone. This was a project wholly approved of by elected members present, with Cr Graham adding that he fully supported “this great initiative” asking when “it will go to all areas of Fremantle”. Graham Tattersall, Director of Infrastructure, clarified that staff were “already in discussions with Main Roads on ways to reduce speed and were looking to implement a five-year program of road treatments to improve this outcome”. Mayor Lawver was “looking forward to the changes”, Cr Camardastated “it was a great report”, and Cr Mofflin declared “there are two community topics – traffic and trees”…and reflected that ”community sentiment was great” on the (road traffic) changes. And with that, another item approved unanimously.

For the remaining three items of the agenda, which will also go to the next Ordinary Meeting of Council, the Item SGSC2608-6 2026-30 CORPORATE PLAN AND 2025-2026 PROGRESS REPORT was approved unanimously, with Cr Slaughter adding praise for the water and urban canopy management by the City.

The Item SGSC2608-8 SHORT TERM ACTIVATION OF CITY PROPERTIES – RESPONSE TO NOTICE OF MOTION was approved unanimously. This was a project initiated by Cr Williamson-Wong, who was unable to be present – though this will go on to the next meeting of Council. It proposed a new action be incorporated into the City’s existing commercial plan to allow for short-term activation while an Expression of Interest (EOI) process is being undertaken, or where an EOI process does not find a suitable tenant within three months. The report acknowledged that “While this practice already occurs, officers were supportive of the proposed changes to the commercial plan to formalise this existing practice and have now brought the proposed change back to Council for adoption”.

And last on the list, Item SGSC2608-9 DRAFT COMPLAINTS MANAGEMENT POLICY which no-one had any complaints about, and it was approved unanimously and without debate.

The meeting closed at 18.35pm. Goodnight Freo.

*By Jenny Archibald