Now that the dust seems to have settled on the merger debacle, the City of Stirling has advertised its plans and vision for the future development of Beaufort Street between Walcott and Salisbury Streets. The plans are available for public comment until Monday the 18th of May, 2015.
The plans include:
- draft Beaufort Street Activity Corridor Plan outlining the vision for Beaufort Street
- a draft Detailed Area Plan which addresses development control provisions such as development heights (up to 5 stories along some selected sections), setbacks and car parking requirements
- proposed amendments (Amendment No. 60) to Local Planning Scheme No. 3 which will rationalise various Zones along the strip, introduce new subdivision requirements and restriction of uses for lots and clarify buildings to be protected from demolition – approx. a dozen new properties are proposed to be added to the Heritage list, included the Inglewood and Civic Hotels, Inglewood Police Station, St Patricks’s Anglican Church plus an apartment building and residences.
A number of interesting proposals are amongst the plans, including the redevelopment of the Inglewood Civic Centre (currently housing the library and community centre) into a more significant, multi-storey, mixed use civic building and provision along the strip for future light rail stops (not on the horizon, but Council asked for them to be considered anyway).
The plans are supposed to be available for viewing on the City’s website at: http://www.stirling.wa.gov.au/community/Your-say but at the time of writing this they still hadn’t been loaded (apparently some of the file sizes are too large and they’re working on it!). You can also view them at the Council or at the Inglewood Library (just ask at the front desk).
Personally, I think it’s terrific that there’s finally an integrated vision for the development of Beaufort Street that encompasses the entirety of its length along Inglewood and Mount Lawley, rather than the bits and pieces approach that has resulted in the current disjointed, disconnected feel of the strip we have at present. More street trees, better weather protection for pedestrians, wider footpaths, more consistent setbacks, improved community facilities and, yes, more mixed-use, higher density development, makes sense along this major inner city artery and public face of our suburbs. That said, visions are lovely, but they’re meaningless if not acted upon – here’s hoping it gets implemented and we start to see the quality approach to planning and development this strip and its residents need and deserve.
