Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Melville residents’ attempts to pump the brakes on a $4.68 million cricket pitch expansion that would clear more than 200 trees at John Connell Reserve have backfired.
The fate of the controversial multimillion-dollar project was decided at a special electors meeting on Tuesday night, with majority of attendees voting to make the bushland clearing happen more quickly than previously proposed.
Hundreds of community members attended the meeting, including environmental representatives and members of the Leeming Spartans Cricket Club, who applied for the field extension in 2022.
It was held after a petition with 410 valid elector signatures was presented to the city in May urging councillors to reconsider going ahead with the project. The petition was organised by Bull Creek Leeming Community Action Group and Melville Tree Canopy Advocates’ respective convenors Jason Meotti and Esther Cole.
Despite presenting three separate motions, the outcome did not go the project’s critics’ way. Spartans committee member Adam Seaward then presented a fourth motion to bring the land clearing works forward, which passed 114 votes to 82. His successful motion will be presented for council to consider at its next ordinary meeting in July.
Mr Seaward asked the meeting to amend the current delivery timeframe for the pitch extension, stipulating that “clearing and associated early works” should begin between January and March next year.
The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation approved the Spartans’ land clearing application in 2025 with the condition that all native vegetation must be cleared by July 23, 2027.
Mr Seaward also asked for a staged delivery, allowing the club to prioritises a field extension before it begins floodlighting upgrades and other “non time-critical” works.
“This is a critical project that affects sport throughout the City of Melville. It also takes a practical, measured, and responsible approach,” he said.
“No one has put forward a realistic, funded, deliverable alternative that meets the need now. Not in five years. Not another master plan. Not another review. Now.”
The John Connell Reserve master plan previously focused on remediating a former landfill site at the reserve for more sporting facilities, which would not have required vegetation to be cleared.
The plan was paused in 2024 when the Spartans applied for a permit to 209 native plants across 0.68 hectares of bushland.
Mr Seaward told the meeting the club had been calling for more capacity at the reserve since 2010 and that the landfill site was not a realistic solution to provide more playing space.
“This is not just about one cricket club wanting something nice. This is about playing space. It is about capacity. It is about whether local clubs can continue to absorb growing demand, particularly from juniors and increasingly from women and girls,” he said.
Residents opposing the project are concerned about the bushland clearing and argued that Melville council was unfairly prioritising the expensive project. Questions have also been raised about the transparency of local government’s decision making process and an apparent lack of community consultation.
In his motions put to Tuesday night’s meeting, Mr Meotti asked the council to pause the extension project, reactivate the master plan and remove any costs associated with the project from the city’s budget. The motions were lost 87-114, 82-116 and 79-118, respectively.
Mr Meotti said pausing the project could accommodate more thorough community consultations. He suggested the council instead pursue a John Connell community precinct that could benefit residents “beyond individual clubs.”
Some $200,000 allocated in the 2026/27 budget for detailed design work of the project was not fair on ratepayers, he said.
“There is no certainty regarding final costs, there is no certainty regarding timing, and there is no certainty regarding future budget impacts,” Mr Meotti said.
“If there is no certainty that construction will proceed, then why should ratepayers be expected to fund preparatory expenditure now?”
Melville councillors voted to approve the pitch project in April, allowing the Spartans to clear up to 0.68ha of bushland at the reserve. The club has since claimed it only plans to clear 0.35ha.
The clearing permit, approved by DWER, also enforced a $1.3m replanting project at nearby Ken Hurst Reserve to offset the environmental impacts at John Connell Reserve.
Friends of Ken Hurst Park convenor and environmental engineer Eddy Wajon, who has opposing landclearing for 10 years, said the group had provided advice to the city raising doubts about the likely success of the revegetation required as the offset.
“We think it’ll be very difficult to obtain the required revegetation in the timeframe. Revegetation in Ken Hurst Park is very difficult,” Dr Wajon said.
He said the city should “bite the bullet” and prioritise the landfill remediation works at the reserve, which would provide a longer-term gain.
“The chances are we’ll be doing both. We’ll be spending $5 million for this and $15 or $20m for the rehabilitation of the landfill,” Dr Wajon said.
“That is very irresponsible spending of money when it could all be done in one lot and everyone will be satisfied,” he said.
Mr Seaward’s motion will be presented for council to consider at the July ordinary meeting.
