Words fuel the fire on peninsula future

Spokeswoman Ms Redden said despite what Mr Best claimed, the group – comprising South Perth residents and property owners – was not concerned about a loss of views.

Amendment 46 proposes to impose height restrictions on new buildings and remove 16 per cent of developable land from the Mill Point Peninsula.

“Virtually none of us has a view that’s going to be impeded by all the developments, it’s never been about views,” Ms Redden said.

She said many members lived in an eight-storey apartment building on Mill Point Road and their main concern was the lack of height restrictions in Amendment 25 – a change to the Town Planning Scheme that had proposed to remove all height restrictions on new developments – and the large population growth that could follow.

“I’ve got every piece of literature that was released about this and not once does it mention that any developments would be around 40 storeys high – there was no warning,” Ms Redden said.

“There’s nothing wrong with having some revitalisation, but we don’t need skyscrapers, it’s just going to cause population problems.

“We protested at the time and James Best told us all Mill Point Road was going to be taken out, but it didn’t happen,” she said.

“All of this development was based around the proposed train station, but research says people will only walk about 800 metres to a station.

“We’ve said from day one that it shouldn’t have included Mill Point Road because the area is too far away.”

City of South Perth Mayor Sue Doherty said the council and community was concerned about substantial change to the character of the South Perth Station Precinct under Amendment 25 by the approval of large high-rise developments.

“The council is now seeking community views on the changes in this second version of Amendment 46, which seeks to limit the heights and scale of development and aims to address uncertainty in the community,” she said.