Source : Perth Now news
Fremantle locals have slammed the latest delay to long-awaited works at Booyeembara Park, with some projects pushed back years as a new $600,000 skate park jumps the queue.
Fremantle Council last week approved an updated long-term financial plan outlining funding for projects through to 2036.
But residents questioned why long-promised improvements at Booyeembara Park had been pushed further into the future while the new skate park had secured funding.
Friends of Booyeembara Park member Steph Jennings said the group had been campaigning for improvements since 1999 and was still waiting for promised projects to be completed.
“We haven’t had any budget put through for these projects. Last year, we finally had the trust rebuilt that these items were going to finally be finished,” she said.
“We’ve not been sitting idly in those 22 years. We have been caring for our beloved park.”
Ms Jennings said volunteers had spent years weeding, planting and watering the park while supporting community and festival events.
The park was also home to bandicoots, fairywrens, bobtails, waterbirds and ground-nesting rainbow bee-eaters, she said.
“But within that are all these unfinished areas waiting for 22 years to be completed,” she said.
“They are dusty, weed-ridden, attracting graffiti, waiting for the budget to be set to finish them.”
Under the previous long-term plan, $650,000 had been allocated to develop the park’s ephemeral wetlands and storytelling circle by 2028.
That funding has now been cut to $400,000, with work not expected to begin until 2032.
The $700,000 amphitheatre project has been pushed from 2029 to 2031, while $1.05 million in olive grove upgrades has been delayed from 2030 to 2032.
Councillor Melanie Clarke successfully moved an amendment noting that the “priority and timing” of Booyeembara Park projects could change.
She said the move would “provide breathing space” while allowing the projects to be reconsidered alongside updates to the park’s masterplan.
“I just think there needs to be further discussion around the projects that these groups would like to see go ahead and the timings and the budgets and the capacity of the city to be able to deliver it all,” she said.
“Not to take money away, but provide clarity around the funding with the park.”
Cr Andrew Sullivan said councillors needed to balance competing community priorities while making sure ratepayer money was spent effectively.
“Of course, the people who are involved in the bushland part of the park are saying, ‘Why are you doing $600,000 on the skate park? Why aren’t you spending that on the amphitheatre or on the seasonal wetland?’ because everyone’s got a different priority,” he said.
“We do have to go back and test those elements.”
“We’re just doing our job, which is to be really careful with ratepayer money and to make sure that everything that we spend it on is actually going to have bang for its buck.”
