Source : Perth Now news
An old landfill site at John Connell Reserve is being put under the microscope as locals push for the recovery of the site master plan and question the city’s inaction.
It operated as the Dundee Road Landfill from 1974 to 2000 before being decommissioned in the early 2000s.
It was marked as “contaminated — remediation required” by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) in 2013, but this work has not yet been completed.
Leeming resident Con Abbott said this was “procrastination 101” by the City of Melville.
“They’ve created this hot mess because you just can’t defer a major project like that for 26 years,” he told PerthNow.
“The first step is to get the master plan approved and going. The master plan has been kicked down the road, and now you’ve got all these issues occurring – the cricket canopy and the un-remediated tip site.
“This is what happens when you don’t do something for a quarter of a century.”
Several plans for the 115ha reserve were discussed before council formally voted to prepare a master plan in 2021, receiving largely positive community feedback throughout the advertising process in 2023.
According to the city’s website, the master plan sought to increase “usable public open space” while protecting natural areas, and explore remediation opportunities for the former landfill area.
The plan was paused in 2024 as the city considered other land use opportunities.
In April this year, councillors approved a cricket pitch extension for the local Leeming Spartans Cricket Club. The extension will involve clearing up to 0.68ha of native vegetation at the reserve, and does not include plans for landfill remediation.
“That tip site hasn’t been fully remediated, and they still don’t know what they’re going to do to remediate it. That’s farcical,” Mr Abbott, who has lived in Leeming for 40 years, said.
The city appointed a specialist consultant in April to complete environmental testing and work with relevant State Government stakeholders to assess estimated costs and requirements to remediate the site.
City of Melville chief executive officer Gail Bowman told PerthNow remediation is not expected to be required to accommodate the extension and risk to public health is “negligible”.
“Broader financial provisioning exists for landfill remediation and related works, and future funding requirements will be considered through the city’s long-term financial planning once investigation outcomes and proposed land uses are confirmed,” she said.
Ms Bowman said the city has been working with DWER and the Department of Health to implement a site management plan.
“Key actions include monitoring of asbestos, groundwater and landfill gas, targeted asbestos removal, known as emu picks, application of mulch to garden beds and maintenance of grassed/vegetated areas to stabilise surfaces, and inspections of public areas,” she said.
“More recently, inspections undertaken in April and May 2026 by the city’s contaminated sites specialist and an accredited auditor identified no visible asbestos or waste materials in public areas.”
A DWER spokesperson confirmed DWER has been liaising with the city in relation to the site.
“We understand that landfill waste has been covered and the city carries out periodic monitoring of groundwater and maintains fencing and vegetation cover as required,” they said.
“DWER is satisfied that the City of Melville is taking appropriate action to manage the site, complete remediation and manage any associated risks.”
The site still contains dumped rubbish and is not yet completely remediated.
Mr Abbott said this displayed a pattern of the city prioritising expensive projects in suburbs north of Leach Highway.
“Council can say ‘this will be expensive’, but then why are you doing a $60 million cultural centre? Why are we doing Heathcote? You’re quite happy to do all these projects north of Leach Highway, but when it comes to this thing, it’s out of sight, out of mind,” he said.
“There’s obviously no ribbon-cutting opportunity for the mayor and the CEO in remediating a tip site. John Connell is a classic case of what happens when you don’t have an equitable distribution of infrastructure across the city.”
Mr Abbott said failing to implement the master plan also means other local clubs will lose out.
“The opportunity cost of not developing John Connell Reserve is all the lost opportunities for sporting clubs,” he said.
“If we don’t start getting to this, three or four years down the track the soccer people are going to say they need to expand, then the football people at Beasley, and you’re going to get this hotchpotch of ideas coming into the system rather than, as the city has quite correctly thought, we need a master plan.”
Director corporate services Gary Tuffin stated at last week’s meeting a refuge facility reserve has been developed, estimated to reach just over $14 million.
Ms Bowman said this supported the city’s long-term obligations with waste management infrastructure and former landfill sites across the city, including John Connell Reserve.
“This includes landfill closure and post-closure management, environmental monitoring and compliance activities, remediation and rehabilitation for a number of former landfill sites and future waste-related infrastructure requirements,” she said.
“At this stage, there is no reserve specifically allocated solely for delivery of the master plan itself.”
The city currently uses a small area of the site for storage of materials such as bricks, drainage pipes, logs and rocks, but Ms Bowman said it is not causing environmental harm.
Instances of illegal waste dumping and fly tipping at the reserve have reportedly been managed by the city. It has also stored clean materials such as sand, aggregate and turf cuttings in consultation with DWER.
