Here is the front page story of this weeks ECHO newspaper (click on the image to download a PDF version of the story). Sarah Brookes documents the reactions of Kalamunda Shire President Donald Mckechnie, The Wattle Grove Action Group and landowner Ross Leighton to the Minister for Planning’s decision to not approve the rezoning application of 32 Gavour Road, Wattle Grove.

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A client of the Environmental Defender’s Office (EDO) has had a recent court win in respect of aspects of a defamation case brought against her. Prior resident of Wattle Grove, Ms Jane Genovese, is defending defamation allegations brought against her and two others by a developer, Mr Ross Leighton.

Mr Leighton alleges in the Supreme Court case that the defendants defamed him in relation to a proposed rezoning of rural land in Wattle Grove to allow for an old aged care development at Lot Part 707, Gavour Road, Wattle Grove. In his pleadings Mr Leighton alleged that the defendants, including Ms Genovese, had published articles in the local newspaper and on an internet site (Wattle Grove Vision) containing imputations that Mr Leighton, in his capacity as a developer, was a liar.

The EDO as solicitors for Ms Genovese has engaged a barrister of the independent Bar, Dr J T Schoombee, to act for her in the case.

The alleged defamatory allegations arose in the context of a long, heated debate within Wattle Grove and the Kalamunda Shire regarding the proposed rezoning of Mr Leighton’s land. Nonsupporters of the rezoning and aged care facility development have expressed opinions that the rezoning of the land from ‘Rural’ to ‘Special Use’ is inappropriate and at odds with the rural use and low density character of the existing suburb. They have also expressed beliefs that more suitable locations for aged care facilities are available and fear the rezoning could result in other high density or ‘Special Use’ re-zonings in the surrounding area.

On 2 August 2012, Ms Genovese and the other defendants brought a strike out application against aspects of Mr Leighton’s pleadings in the Supreme Court. One of the issues raised was that the publications relied upon by Mr Leighton could not support an imputation that Mr Leighton was made out to be a liar in his capacity as developer of the relevant site.

The defendant argued further that as a matter of pleading, this allegation was also too imprecise and ambiguous. On 4 September 2012, Justice Le Miere of the Supreme Court ruled that the defendants were right in their second objection in respect of all of the four relevent publications and correct in respect of their first objection in respect of two of the publications.

Hence Mr Leighton’s pleading that he was defamed by saying he was a liar in his capacity as developer of the development, was struck out.

The plaintiff (Mr Leighton) has the leave of the Court to re-plead his case. The next directions hearing is on 25 September 2012, at which time Justice Le Miere will decide how the remainder of the defamation trial will proceed.

For media enquiries please contact Annaleen Harris (Outreach Solicitor at the Environmental Defender’s Office, WA):

aharris@edowa.org.au

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I have one word to describe the Special Council meeting that was called to adopt the Local Planning Strategy tonight: Mindless.

Social psychologist Ellen Langer states that when an individual is mindless their thinking is dominated by a narrow perspective, they rigidly rely on narrow categories and fail to take into consideration different perspectives.

Never before have I seen so many councillors mindlessly pass a strategy that will dramatically impact on the natural environment, my community and future generations.

It became apparent at tonight’s meeting that the councillors had had only 3 days to look at the revised strategy, accompanying documents and compiled submissions, some noting that they hadn’t even had time to look at them.

And yet, they were quite confident in their decision to vote on passing the Planning Strategy.

The fact that there were 188 objections to rezoning Wattle Grove, 25 supporting and 7 neutral did not seem to make any difference to these mindless councillors.

11 out of 12 councillors voted for the strategy to be adopted.

The Shire's reasoning for ignoring the submissions of 85% of Wattle Grove Residents who Opposed the Planning Strategy (Click on image to enlarge)

Very little debate between councillors took place tonight. All councillor Stallard had to say on the matter of Wattle Grove becoming an urban development area was that “We can’t stop progress” and “If we don’t do it, someone else will do it”. Really deep.

The 1 councillor who opposed the strategy, Maureen Robinson, was not mindless. In fact, she was the complete opposite. She spoke passionately and authentically for the residents of Wattle Grove. You could tell she had taken the time to look through the revised Planning Strategy and really think about it. She questioned why the council is rushing into making such dramatic changes and moving to rezone for a population prediction for the year 2056.

Most importantly, she highlighted that the most important thing that came out of the “community consultations” was that residents wanted to retain their home in the forest. Yet, the planning strategy that was adopted tonight is the beginning of the destruction of the trees and the biodiversity of our area.

They can keep repeating the word “sustainable” and “sustainable growth” but we are not stupid. Do you really think that you can change the zoning of an area to include more houses, more people, more electricity, more cars, etc and you’re not going to have an impact on the environment or community?

The sad thing is that it no longer surprised or shocked me to see developer Ross Leighton being very familiar and chatting with the councillors.

At what point did our shire councillors stop listening to the people they are supposed to represent and only take into account the wishes of a vocal minority?

One thing is for sure, we need to reclaim our Shire. It’s going to take something, but it must be done.

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We have 22 days left for the community to send in their submissions opposing the rezoning of 32 Gavour Road…the only problem is many local residents have not been alerted to this fact.

The image below is of a sign that was put up by the Shire of Kalamunda outside the Proponent’s property to alert local residents to the advertising period and request for submissions. Someone has spray painted over it.

Weeks ago the Shire was alerted to this fact but still no action has been taken to replace the sign.

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‘It’s like a wild forest!’ my cousin’s 5 year old daughter cried out in delight as she ran through our garden in Wattle Grove at Easter. I have never seen a little child look so excited!

You see my cousin’s daughter has lived in a dense urban area all her life. Her exposure to plants and animals either happens at the zoo once or twice a year or at my house in Wattle Grove.

With so many areas in Western Australia becoming more and more developed (resulting in the destruction of habitat) I can’t help but wonder to myself what will be the affect on young people who are totally deprived of experiences in nature?

I feel so lucky to have grown up in Wattle Grove and to have had such rich experiences in my surrounding area (e.g. playing in the creek, going for bushwalks and spotting quendas).To this day, the beauty of this area continues to bring so much joy and peace to my life.

In 2008, after my first day of work in the city (30 minutes away), I remember the immediate sense of peace I felt as I arrived back in Wattle Grove on the bus. The lack of traffic, the bush and the birds was incredibly soothing.

Psychological research is now telling us that experiences in nature are important to our health and well-being. For instance, researcher Terry Hartig (Uppsala University) has shown that experiences in nature can relieve individual’s mental fatigue. It was found that after 45 minutes of tough mental work a walk in a natural area was better recovery for participants than taking a walk in an urban area.

This is just one of the reasons for why I believe we need to protect areas like Wattle Grove from becoming like other dense urban areas. The preservation of greener, rural areas like Wattle Grove does not only benefit the local residents but also the wider community who either pass through the area, spend time in the National Park or visit there friends/family here.

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