Greetings once more to all Underwood Bushland friends and supporters and to all of you who have signed previous petitions to the Hon Julie Bishop in 2014 and UWA V-C Paul Johnson in 2015.
It is now 3 years since our last update. Much has happened in that time. UWA is still not able to go ahead with its original housing development proposal and the bushland remains intact, thanks in large part to the Friends of Underwood Ave Bushland (FUAB)’s ongoing campaign efforts.
UWA’s recently released new Masterplan indicates the University is keen to divest non-core assets. We understand the Underwood bushland is one of these. The current V-C Prof. Amit Chakma has indicated to FUAB the University would be willing to sell the bushland for a fair price as determined by independent valuers.
An immediate opportunity presents itself to influence the Premier to agree to the State acquisition of Underwood. FUAB has written a letter to Premier McGowan requesting him to act to acquire the bushland.
A development company, Hesperia, is currently working on a Market Led Proposal (MLP) to the State Government in relation to the Graylands Hospital site and surrounding area as part of the development of a Shenton Precinct. This may both include and impact Underwood Bushland.
We respectfully ask all of you to please sign the current Change.org petition to Premier McGowan as a matter of urgency and to share and circulate the petition as widely as possible. This matter is now urgent as FUAB believes decisions on the future of the bushland are rapidly coming to a conclusion. An individually written letter to Premier McGowan asking him to act would also be extremely valuable to this campaign.
The Petition Link is: