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As appearing on: www.savemooreriver.org
Myth 1:
"This will not grow Guilderton but start an unsustainable separate township, mainly of intermittently resident retirees, without community infrastructure or employment opportunities, analogous to Alan Bond's Two Rocks development in 1969, which has had great problems over the years."
The Reality:
The proposal will include a significant commitment to community infrastructure, including a primary school site, community centre, land and floorspace to facilitate local medical and community support services, which will benefit the broader district including the existing Guilderton townsite.
Myth 2:
"Developments only bring schools if they attract children, which this one is unlikely to do. Shopping will only improve when there is an increased locally permanently resident population. The Shire Council is already working on a future service hub site, far more centrally located than the Moore River Company's location."
The Reality:
An emphasis of the design will be to facilitate new small business and light industry and other elements to attract families and semi-retired people on the basis of an opportunity to work in a better living environment.
Myth 3:
"This piece of land is a unique piece of Western Australia's environmental and touristic heritage, which should never be developed for urban housing but should remain available for recreation in perpetuity as is Kings Park. Once a small development occurs there will eventually be demand to expand it and the Moore River Estuary will become a second Mandurah."
The Reality:
The land is primarily open pasture of no environmental sensitivity, after having been grazed and farmed for several generations. A significant area of public reserve already exists on the southern foreshore of Moore River and will be expanded by a system of river and coastal reserves as part of the development.
Myth 4:
"The rezoning of 1995 was a bad decision, made in the face of overwhelming opposition from the Guilderton Community, which the government of today should have the courage to overturn. We have planning laws because no landowner anywhere has the unfettered right to do what he wishes with his land to the detriment of the wider community."
The Reality:
The site was selected for development because of the locational advantages and lack of environmental sensitivity of the site. The proposal is not opposed by the broader community, it originated as a response to Government planning for the area. Development will be tightly controlled and will not occur in an ‘unfettered’ manner. The proposal by the previous State government to ‘de-zone’ the land was unprecedented and would have totally derogated the planning system of Western Australia, creating a debilitating uncertainty for landowners and the development industry. |