Sky's Vic Park Newsletter #13: Climate action on the agenda and September decisions
This newsletter will cover how to get involved around the Town (and beyond!); how (some) change happens; climate action, the Albany Highway Precinct Plan (and much more!) on the agenda at council for the 15th October Ordinary Council Meeting; and decisions made by council in September.
Kaya!
I hope that you’re well and enjoying the shift to warmer, drier weather that Kambarang brings.
After over a month away my partner has now made it back home, which is not only lovely because the children and I are very fond of him, but also handy when it comes to dealing with my email inboxes and long to-do list.
It also meant that I was able to go to Ever Now, which was a truly awesome experience. It’s incredibly moving, and a great privilege, to be able to experience Noongar language and culture in spaces where people have been meeting for thousands of years.
This newsletter will cover:
How to get involved around the Town (and beyond!);
How (some) change happens;
Climate action, the Albany Highway Precinct Plan (and much more!) on the agenda at council for the 15th October Ordinary Council Meeting; and
Decisions made by council in September.
Get involved
There are many excellent events happening around Vic Park, including Bike Bus 101 and the launch of the Archer St bike lane.
Right now there aren’t any open consultations on Your Thoughts, but Main Roads is running consultation around the future of Orrong Road, including an online survey and pop-up information sessions and chats with members of the project team (including one on Saturday 12 October, 9am–12pm, at the Park Centre).
As always there are a lot of great things happening around the Town, including at the Vic Park Centre for the Arts, and the Vic Park Community Centre. The Vic Park Collective Shed has also been launched and is worth checking out if you haven’t already!
For people between 17 and 25 feeling (understandably) stressed about climate change, there’s a workshop on Saturday 12th October at Jirdarup Bushland to help you find ways to move forward.
Beyond the borders of our town, Go Beyond Gas is running a local community organising effort to stop the massive North West Shelf Extension project. If you want to get involved in your suburb, there’s training online at 6pm, Thursday 17th October.
Creating change (slowly): the campaign against subminimum wages for people with disabilities
Change happens slowly on council, and often in small steps. Hopefully in these newsletters I can give some idea about different ways to take action.
Back in April, I got an email from someone involved in the campaign to end the practice of paying some people with disabilities less than the minimum wage. At the time, I sent a few inquiries to our staff to determine whether we had any staff or contractors in “supported employment”, and was reassured that we didn’t.
Then, last month, our Procurement policy came up in our regular review cycle. Reading through it, I noticed that Australian Disability Enterprises were listed as preferred suppliers in the document. I asked whether we could make some changes, and with the support of others on council the new draft presented for approval now includes the requirement in point 8.4 that officers must ensure that all employees or contractors of any Australian Disability Enterprise we procure from are paid no less than the Australian National Minimum Wage.
It’s a small step, but hopefully one that takes us towards a more equal future!
October Ordinary Council Meeting: 6:30pm, Tuesday 15th
There are a lot of interesting issues on the agenda, many related to climate action.
Item 11.2: Local Government Elections Advocacy Position
This item makes recommendations for what the WA Local Government Association (WALGA) should be advocating for when it comes to State laws about local elections. At the moment one recommendation is for voting to remain voluntary. I’m considering an amendment to this to call for compulsory voting, as this tends to lead to better representation and more inclusive policymaking.
11.3 September 2024 Policy Review
I know that ‘policy review’ is not a phrase that we all associate with thrills, but there are some important ones here!
Attachment 11.3.2 is the draft Procurement Policy. This includes point 7: Sustainable Procurement, committing the Town to "advantage goods, services, and works that minimise negative environmental, social, and local economic impacts".
Attachment 11.3.3 is the Parking Permit policy. When I went on my deep dive into the parking research, I found out that one of the biggest drivers (sorry) of mode shift is parking policy. Good parking policy is a crucial part of climate action. This draft also includes a new provision for parking permits for support workers (at point 84).
Attachment 11.3.7 is the draft Waste Removal and Recycling policy. The introduction of FOGO (set for 2025) is an important step towards reducing methane emissions.
Attachment 11.3.8 is the draft Investment policy. This governs how we decide which financial institutions to choose for term deposits. Buried in points 10 and 12 are changes that will make it possible to invest less money in banks that continue to fund fossil fuel projects...as long as other banks provide the same rate of return. I’m still discussing this with other council members, as the policy as presented might mean our investments continue to partially fund climate collapse. Cr Devereux was kind enough to share some information on the previous round local government divestment.
Item 12.1 and Item 12.3: Appointment of Representatives to Working/Advisory Groups
These items cover the appointment of community representatives to the Access and Inclusion Advisory Group; the Business Advisory Group; Hockey Working Group; Urban Forest Strategy Implementation Working Group; and Integrated Transport Working Group, and Elected Member representatives to the Integrated Transport Working Group.
The process for this is that we receive a ranked list of applicants from staff, and vote to accept (or amend) these recommendations. Elected Members will be able to nominate for the Integrated Transport Working Group - if more nominate than spaces are available, it will be put to the vote.
Item 12.2 Endorsement of Draft Albany Highway Precinct Plan for advertising
This plan will have a huge impact on the future of the Town, so it’s worth taking a look! Happily, if we do endorse this Plan then it goes out for public comment and everyone will have the opportunity to give feedback. Also included as an attachment (among many) is the Sustainability Plan.
Item 12.4 Urban Forest Implementation Action Plan Review
This plan may be amended when the Urban Forest Strategy undergoes a review, but for now it gives a sense of our priorities, including understanding that the Urban Forest is about more than just trees but also encompasses diverse ecosystems and water-sensitive design.
Item 12.7 Draft Local Planning Policy - Sustainable Development
This draft policy outlines sustainability requirements for the development of land in the Town, including a table setting out a points system (see page 4) for residential developments. If endorsed, this policy draft will go out for public comment.
Item 13.1: Rutland Avenue - progress of advocacy for funding
In this item, staff report that efforts to gain funding from the Water Corporation (to move the water pipes that are required to be relocated for the version of the PSP that retains both lanes of Rutland Ave) or from Western Power (to test a new hybrid system when relocating lighting) have so far been unsuccessful.
Staff also report that “recent price estimates have revised the costing of the preferred two-way road design with a principal shared path constructed as a grade-separated path at $10.28m which now leaves a funding gap in excess of $6m … It is suggested that the Town engage in an 8 to 12-week advocacy sprint that aims to proactively engage with community advocates for the two-way option”
In order to do this, a suitably qualified civil design consultant will need to be contracted to provide a detailed design for a grade-separated principal shared path.
Phew! I think Tuesday is going to be a long meeting!
September’s Ordinary Council Meeting
September’s meeting also went late, with the recording coming in at a tidy four hours! You may find the written minutes easier to navigate.
Part of the reason it took so long was because we spent a while talking through and refining several amendments, ensuring that we understood each other’s positions and what different options might mean. This kind of collaborative approach often feels the most productive and satisfying to me, although it’s not always possible.
I’ll stick to a few of the key decisions in this summary:
Item 12.2: Adoption of revised LPP 23 'Bicycle Parking, Car Parking and Access for Non-Residential Development'
This policy passed, giving non-residential developments scope to choose how much car parking they provide, with a requirement for better design of carparks and higher levels of ACROD parking. It also introduces requirements to provide secure and convenient bicycle parking to better support our Integrated Transport Plan.
Item 12.3: Proposed road names for portion of Precinct A within Belmont Park Racecourse Redevelopment
Cr Devereux raised concerns about the proposed names (most of which are linked to horse racing) for this development. After some discussion about the implications of rejecting these names, we worked together to frame an amendment requiring future names for roads and public green spaces in the area to draw on local Indigenous history and language.
Item 13.1: TVP/24/09 Kerbline and Footpath Weed Control
This passed, awarding the contract for weed management in the Town. Cr Anderson introduced an amendment to limit the spraying of glyphosate near schools and playgrounds, which was passed after some discussion about how to clarify the intent and implementation of the amendment.
Item 13.2: Lathlain Precinct Zone 1
After some debate and an amendment to the original motion, an alternative motion put forward by Mayor Vernon was passed. This motion was for the development (including the Perth Football Club site) to await further external funding before proceeding.
Inspiration from elsewhere
#94: Stories of the Internet of Nature from 'The Nature of Our Cities' book, with Nadina Galle | Green Urbanist Podcast
Nadina Galle is an ecological engineer, National Geographic Explorer, science and nature writer, podcaster, and keynote speaker. She helps green professionals...
We are all connected
As always, I’m aware that we are incredibly privileged to live on Noongar Boodjar. If you have some money to spare, consider donating to the UNHCR’s efforts to support Lebanese civilians displaced by Israeli bombings, to UNICEF, or the World Food Programme. If you have time to spare, consider supporting advocacy efforts for justice.
That's all folks!
Thanks for reading! As always, I encourage you to get in touch if there's anything you want to ask about or discuss.
If you’ve read this far and found the newsletter useful, please consider forwarding it to friends in the area!
best wishes,
sky.
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