I moved to South Fremantle 20 years ago when plans for the new South Beach Estate were being developed. During the consultation processes, it emerged that the apartments called the ‘Islands’ were going to be built 10 metres from the freight rail line (in violation of the required 65-metre rail buffer zone) and well within the 100-metre coastal setback zone.
I led the campaign called ‘Save South Beach ‘ to have the 100-metre coastal setback policy applied to the new South Beach Estate.
Former State Premier Dr Carmen Lawrence supported our campaign and thousands of people signed our petitions for the 100-metre setback at South Beach
(click link for original Save South Beach website 2003-2006 – You may be in it!!!)
https://savesouthbeachfremantle.tripod.com/
We supported the big picture of the South Beach Estate, and supported more people moving into this coastal suburb. All we wanted was the the land west of the railway line to be left as a green link coastal reserve for future generations. Our campaign called on the State Government to simply apply its own planning policies at South Beach so that the housing would have been set back behind the freight rail line.
Lead contamination at South Beach and the Supreme Court case
Our Save South Beach campaign took a serious turn with the discovery by community scientists that the historic former lead smelter site had been at the proposed ‘Islands’ site at South Beach. I took legal action in the Supreme Court against the WA State Government to ensure that our local community had a say in the plans to remediate the lead contaminated site at South Beach.
Securing Heritage Listing for South Beach
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