Premier sends Local Govt Minister to appease 160 North Fremantle residents who wanted to leave Fremantle for Mosman Park

“It’s an area of new development, so I’m supportive of the residents’ position for change,” Mr Barnett told the Western Suburbs Weekly.

Mr Simpson met with the disgruntled North Fremantle residents on May 4. His spokeswoman said he asked them to meet with Fremantle and Mosman Park councils to discuss future options for the area.

The constituents mainly live at the west end of the Minim Cove and last year petitioned the State Government to leave the port city.

The government rejected change because both councils would not agree but the residents feel their request was foiled when the Local Government Advisory Board sent Mr Simpson Fremantle’s counter-proposal to move its border east on McCabe Street into Mosman Park.

Mosman Park Council and the petitioners subsequently felt due process may not have been followed because there was no public inquiry into Fremantle’s counter-proposal.

“I think what went wrong here is that it suddenly became a dispute between Mosman Park Council and Fremantle Council and it seems to me that the residents were forgotten in the middle of that,” Mr Barnett said.

Mr Barnett said a border change was “still wide open” and change may still not be prevented by Fremantle’s long-term work on a special development zone of new apartments at the west end of McCabe Street.

Mr Barnett’s intervention followed a meeting with Mosman Park Mayor Ron Norris and councillors recently.

“Mr Barnett acknowledged that it was unacceptable for Fremantle to massively increase the residential density in the precinct, which was predicted to treble the number of vehicle movements in McCabe Street, while leaving Mosman Park to solve the traffic congestion problem in McCabe Street, but receive no revenue to do so,” Mr Norris said.

n Fremantle Council will delay deciding on a development structure plan for Matilda Bay Brewery, in the special development zone, until traffic issues can be resolved by June.