An outdoor cafe in Paris.
Camera IconAn outdoor cafe in Paris. Credit: Supplied/Getty Images

Opinion: Landscaping, not cafe, for Shelley foreshore

Grecian Sandwell, ShelleyCanning Gazette

INSTEAD of a café, money would be better spent making the Shelley foreshore area even more attractive and user friendly for residents and visitors by landscaping the area between the existing toilet block and Prisoners Point.

A large storm water pipe runs under this area and empties directly into the river.

The unfiltered water from the pipe could be channelled into a man-made lake which could then become the centrepiece for a grassed picnic area.

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Trees could be planted, picnic tables erected and the lake fringed with native sedges and rushes which would remove many nutrients and pollutants from the water before it ultimately empties into the Canning River via the existing pipe.

This development would be sympathetic to the surrounding area which is already extensively used for picnicking, playing games, fishing, exercising, walking, canoeing and paddle boarding.

This plan would also have a cooling effect over summer, more car parks would not.

At a time when the area is fast losing much of its established trees and shrubs it offers the City a great opportunity to counter the heat island effect.

Signs erected on Riverton Drive opposite Shelley Beach Park would direct people to the café which is presently under construction and other commercial outlets at the nearby Shelley Hub in Tribute Street.

This is a residential area with a lovely park for all to enjoy, not a commercial precinct.

We can live in hope that the residents of Shelley and Rossmoyne also acknowledge how privileged we are to live in suburbs so unique in today’s world and share it with those people who come along to the foreshore to enjoy what the natural world has to offer.