Fremantle residents have criticised a decision to delay long-promised improvements at Booyeembara Park, after the city’s updated 10-year financial plan moved several projects further into the future while setting aside about A$600,000 for a new skate park.
The Fremantle Council approved the revised plan last week, with funding and delivery dates for the park’s wetlands, storytelling circle, amphitheatre and olive grove all altered.
Under the previous financial plan, A$650,000 had been earmarked for the ephemeral wetlands and storytelling circle by 2028. That allocation has now been reduced to A$400,000, with work not expected to start until 2032.
The A$700,000 amphitheatre has been pushed back from 2029 to 2031, while A$1.05 million in olive grove improvements has been delayed from 2030 to 2032.
Booyeembara Park projects face further delays
Steph Jennings, a member of the Friends of Booyeembara Park group, said residents had been campaigning for improvements since 1999 and had repeatedly been assured that unfinished areas would 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, as well as helping with community and festival events.
She said the site had become an important habitat for bandicoots, fairywrens, bobtails, waterbirds and ground-nesting rainbow bee-eaters, but warned that several areas remained unfinished.
“They are dusty, weed-ridden, attracting graffiti, waiting for the budget to be set to finish them,” she said.
The City of Fremantle describes Booyeembara Park as one of its most valued public open spaces. The site was formerly a limestone quarry and municipal tip, and has been shaped by community consultation and masterplanning stretching back to the 1990s.
The council is now consulting residents on draft concepts for the northern section of the park. The proposals include work on the olive grove, storytelling circle, wetland area, playground, skate park and future paths linking different parts of the site.
Cr Melanie Clarke successfully moved an amendment to the financial plan stating that the priority and timing of Booyeembara Park projects could change.
She said the amendment would provide “breathing space” while allowing the projects to be considered 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 had to balance competing demands while ensuring ratepayers’ 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’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.”
The City has said its long-term financial plan is indicative rather than fixed and is updated each year through the annual budget process. The latest Booyeembara Park consultation is intended to help determine how the remaining projects should be staged and funded.
