After six years of park improvements worth almost $34 million, the City of Gosnells in Perth is keen to build on its success as the second phase of its Public Open Space (POS) Strategy shifts into gear.
The City’s POS Strategy is a 30-year plan, which takes a holistic approach to provide the community with greater access to quality parks and reserves.
Work on Phase 1 was carried out from 2011 to 2017 and involved 13 park upgrades, disposal of five parcels of land to fund park enhancement projects and acquisition of five parcels of land to increase the size of park developments.
City of Gosnells Mayor Olwen Searle said the end of the first ‘implementation’ phase was a cause for celebration.
“Over the past six years, the City has injected $33.9 million into the enhancement of public open space through 13 projects – this is a remarkable investment and highlights the City’s commitment to creating better and more user-friendly parks and open spaces,” the Mayor said.
“While the redevelopment of Mills Park in Beckenham is the most notable of all our POS Strategy achievements, there were many smaller park enhancements that equally affected the lives of our residents.
“Interestingly, a key aspect of the Strategy’s success has involved the sale of some land or reserves.
“These lots had been identified as no longer providing a community function. “Understandably, people have concerns when there is talk of selling off parks however the City’s identification of potential land disposals has not been accidental.
“A condition of these land sales is that all proceeds are channelled back into park enhancement projects within the suburb from which the land was sold – without this, the City could not generate enough revenue to develop all critical parks and the POS Strategy would not exist.
Mayor Searle said the next phase of work, from 2017 to 2023, brought great anticipation with plans in place to revitalise a further 24 parks and open spaces across the City.
