Town of Victoria Park chief executive Anthony Vuleta.
Camera IconTown of Victoria Park chief executive Anthony Vuleta. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Pop-ups and more in peninsula plan

Kaylee MartinSouthern Gazette

IT ALREADY hosts the state’s biggest resort complex, a racecourse, the coming Perth stadium and a vibrant cafe strip.

But now after the success of a recent pop-up theme park, the Town of Victoria Park is on the way to becoming WA’s leading entertainment hub.

Victoria Park chief executive Anthony Vuleta said pop-up water park Xscape had officially signed on to appear at the Belmont Racecourse for the next four years.

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“Xscape attracted a lot of people to the town, and now the organisers are trying a few more things by adding additional attractions with the Holiday Carnivale,” he said.

“The relationship the town has developed with the organisers is quite good, it’s a real win-win.”

Organisers behind the water park have now tweaked the attractions, incorporating dry rides and carnival activities to keep the park open throughout the April school holidays.

Mr Vuleta said the town was working to ensure the Burswood Peninsula would continue to bustle with activities all seasons to attract visitors from across Perth.

“It’s not just the Peninsula either, we want to extend this out to the boundary of the City of South Perth,” he said.

“We’re trying to create an events corridor all the way along the river frontage, we run events ourselves but we also want other people to use the space to ideally keep activity in the town pretty much every day of the week.”

While the aim is to attract visitors from outside the town to indulge in the entertainment offerings, Mr Vuleta said strategies were in place to ensure public parking was not overwhelmed.

“We’re one of the few councils that have done an integrated movement strategy, so that looks at all modes of transport and parking out to our full growth potential,” he said.

“We’ve got a whole strategy on how to manage transport over time as the population increases. We’ve looked at where we need to create car parks in the town, but not to the point where the roads are so congested you can’t even use them, it’s a balance.”

The transportation plan incorporated making the town more cyclist, pedestrian and public transport friendly.

“We’re hoping for a light rail one day, to be part of that transport plan,” Mr Vuleta said.

“Our town is a little bit unique and we want to work with that and make sure it is a destination, and hopefully the rest of the town can benefit from that.”

Mr Vuleta said increased visitor numbers would also benefit local businesses and retail outlets.