Brajkovich pleads guilty over Nazi tattoo, exits court flanked by Mercanti
Anger continues to mount over the Cook government’s plan to take away planning control from councils around 10 train stations in the metro area to introduce medium- and high-density housing.
Cottesloe was one of the councils accused by the government of being “ambivalent” about planning for higher density around railway stations, but Mayor Melissa Harkins went on ABC Radio today to rebut this.
Claisebrook train station in East Perth is one of the places the state government wants to increase density around. Credit: Hannah Barry
“We consulted with the community, so we were pretty much indecisive and came up with a plan,” he said.
“We want medium to high density because of course that will attract people to shops and bring vitality to the town, but we want it in consultation with residents who live here and know what works.”
Cottesloe’s building plan has been in the works since COVID-19, but Harkins said the pandemic and changes at the WA Planning Commission had slowed the process.
Prime Minister Roger Cook doubled down on the plan, saying: “We will stop at nothing to make sure we get the housing our communities need, and that includes increasing medium and high density housing.”
“We are now investing literally billions of dollars to connect communities through our public transportation system, and these are the nodes that we need to improve,” he said.
“We know a number of local government authorities are now considering these and we want to put our foot to the pedal to accelerate the amount of housing we bring to these transit nodes.”
The 10 train stations that will come under WAPC’s planning control are:
- Ballajura
- glendalough
- bassendean
- morley
- Carlisle/Oat Street
- Mosman Park
- classbrook
- Redcliffe
- cottesloe
- swanbourne
