City of Melville councillors have voted to clear more than half a hectare of remnant native bushland in Leeming to make way for a new cricket pitch despite stiff community pushback in an at times heated meeting on Tuesday night.
The plan to expand the cricket pitch at John Connell Reserve was part of an election commitment from federal Tangney MP Sam Lim in 2022, and would see bushland cleared to the east of the reserve, which sits to the north of Roe Highway and the Jandakot Airport precinct in Perth’s south.
A second pitch would be built to be used by the Leeming Spartans Cricket Club, with the expanded grounds to also be utilised by the Leeming Strikers Soccer Club.
However, the prospect of removing mature native trees had residents and environment groups concerned – especially as they provided foraging habitat for Carnarbys, Baudins and red-tailed black cockatoos, with identified roosting sites in the nearby Melville Glades Golf Course.
The Department of Water and Environment Regulation, in granting a clearing permit, noted the plan would result in the loss of 0.68 hectares of native vegetation “that is significant as a remnant of native vegetation in an area that has been extensively cleared”.
The department recommended improvement and management of 7.34 hectares of native vegetation – including the revegetation of 1.63 hectares at the nearby Ken Hurst Park – to offset the “significant impacts” of the proposed clearing.
Councillors mulled six options at Tuesday’s meeting, with Councillor Karen Wheatland arguing against any involving clearing, noting there was a petition carrying more than 600 signatures against the project, that the soccer club was supportive of retaining the status quo, and that there were options available to the city which cost less and had a lower environmental impact.
“This is not an attack on the clubs … this about making sure that the decision we make this evening represents good value for the majority of our ratepayers,” she said.
“A $5 million project that requires the removal of over 200 trees when there are other workable options available is just not that.”
However, an alternate motion from Councillor Jennifer Spanbroek that endorsed the second option, that would see 0.55 hectares of native vegetation cleared, was ultimately carried 8-5.
Under an amendment to that motion, the project was contingent on the City of Melville securing the re-allocation of about $470,000 in federal grant money from the Leeming Spartan Cricket Club, as well as 50 per cent state and/or federal funding.
And despite the environmental concerns, it was that question of funding that brought the meeting to its most heated points, with Spanbroek noting the reserve had already received $1.3 million in state or federal funding, and “I have yet to come across a project throughout the City of Melville where 50 per cent of that project is only contingent on state or federal grant funding”.
“The disparity in the investment funding between north of Leach Highway and south of Leach Highway, it’s completely unfair,” she said.
“So here we go once again, there’s this big pushback for the south-east ward of the City of Melville to require state and federal funding when consideration hasn’t been taken … that there’s already been $1.3 million of state and federal funding that has gone to John Connell Reserve.”
That drew a rebuke from Councillor Karen Wheatland, who noted the project could see an uplift of 4 per cent in the city’s rates, just on the cost alone.
“And in the current political state, which we haven’t even talked about – we’ve got a global conflict going on, we’ve got fuel costs going through the roof that are impacting capital works across the city – we’ve got no idea what this is going to cost in six months’ time, in 12 months’ time,” she said.
“I think this is a sensible and needed amendment [to seek 50 per cent state and federal funding], and I ask you all around this table to carefully consider it, because guess what? In two months’ time, we’re doing rates.
“And a lot of you just recently got elected on keeping rates low. So let’s stay true to our promises shall we?”
But Councillor Glynis Barber, echoing US President Donald Trump, said claims the city funding the project could lead to a jump in rates were “fake news”, drawing a point of order from Mayor Katy Mair.
Councillor Daniel Lim urged the council to “strike when the iron’s hot”, noting local MPs had written in support of the project, and should “probably put their money where their mouth is”.
“Let’s just put it in writing, and if they don’t come up with that 50 per cent, their letter of support is just words, really,” he said.
The cricket club had previously expressed its support for the first and second of the six options, which both involved clearing bushland, while the soccer club supported the second option or another which retained the status quo.
However, environmental advocacy groups like the Melville Tree Canopy Advocates, as well as the John Connell Whadjuk Noongar Reference Group did not support any option that included bushland clearing.
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