The battle to save Lemnos St Bushland continues!

We are quite upset that LandCorp has challenged the decision of the Statutory Planning Committee’s (SPC) that would see most of Lemnos St Bushland saved. LandCorp has asked the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) for a review of the decision.

Unfortunately, our laws do not allow the public to view LandCorp’s request! However, the WAPC will allow 3 presentations this morning by Bush Not Bricks, The Mayor of Nedlands and the Urban Bushland Council. Bush Not Bricks will be asking the Commission to uphold the SPC’s original decision AND to go one step further and remove all building proposals from the Banksia Woodland site and save the entire ecological linkage.  This is the only course of action that is fully consistent with WA’s key planning policies, the expert advice and the public’s wishes to save the bushland.

This four-and-a-half-year journey to try and save the bushland has exposed how broken our planning process is. Policies are subjectively applied to meet the desired outcomes which generally benefit the developers; Ministers have sweeping discretionary powers to make decisions and do not need to provide detailed justification; and the public has no right to appeal the Ministers’ decisions.

It is frustrating to note that if LandCorp is not happy with the WAPC’s decision today, they have the power to appeal the decision through the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT). Although this is publicly owned land, THE PUBLIC HAS NO RIGHT OF APPEAL!

We are cautiously optimistic that the WAPC will at least uphold the SPC’s decision today. The decision was based on a careful review of LandCorp’s application. The review showed that LandCorp did not properly consider the environmental value of the ecological linkage and did not properly take into account several key planning policies, like Perth’s bushland and bushfire policies which clearly indicate that this important Banksia Woodland should be safeguarded and enhanced in its entirety.

Today we are calling on the WAPC to put the interests of the wildlife and the community first!