IN response to Krista Price’s letter in the February 17 edition headlined ‘Strike a balance’ referred to my letter in the January 27 edition headlined ‘Houses were once land’, striking a balance should mean just that.
City planners long ago decided that a city should be built on the Swan River, which meant that this area, known as Perth, was designated for human beings.
When it grew larger than Albany, more land was allocated for human habitation, as it became clear that Perth would become the principal city in WA.
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READ NOWThe balance was achieved by leaving most of the rest of WA to the native flora and fauna.
Admittedly, mining operations, small and large towns, cattle stations and wheat fields encroached on this area, but there is a huge area left over for the native animals.
This balance was planned for and carried out.
As I said in my letter, the areas left to wildlife are much greater in WA than in most countries in the world.
It is accidental that some areas in Perth have been left in their more or less natural state.
The site for Roe 8 is one of them.
Nature lovers should be grateful for this, which has come about by the delays in building the road, and the generous amount of land that was reserved for this purpose.
If the planners had left just enough land for the road, North Lake and Bibra Lake would have finished up like Booragoon Lake; totally hemmed in by roads, and with just a narrow strip of grass on which to walk the dog.
JIM REDDYHOUGH, Willetton