OUTSPOKEN Kwinana environment campaigner Steve Hesse says he is prepared to lie down in front of bulldozers to stop public open space in Medina being demolished for residential developments.
The Kwinana Watchdog Group and Kwinana Progress Association spokesman voiced his opposition to a proposal by Kwinana Town Council to request parcels of crown land be sold to help pay for community infrastructure.
The proposal, currently under consideration in State Parliament, and developed by the Rockingham Kwinana Development Office, included the sale of eight sites around the town, including two in Medina.
Mr Hesse said the group was prepared to lie down in front of bulldozers to protect the land.
“We’ll fight all the way, we will be there when the bulldozers come, lying in front of them – they have no idea how passionate we are about it,” he said.
Mr Hesse said the council had tried to build on the parcels of land in the past but residents had fought to prevent it.
“This group, for example, was brought into existence in 1991 to fight for public open space – a lot of people in the community were against building on it,” he said.
Mr Hesse said the trees in the public open space were part of Medina’s heritage as they were planted when the town was first established in the 1950s.
“Surely there is enough land to build on, so you don’t have to build on parks. That’s what makes Kwinana – the parks and bushland,” he said.
Mayor Carol Adams said the land the council identified for potential sale was vacant parcels, not parks or ovals.
“The areas of Crown Land … are in fact vacant under-utilised reserves, many of which are an eyesore, potential fire hazard or nutrient-stripping basing that are no longer required,” she said.
Cr Adams said the money raised from the sale would be “ploughed” directly back into making better and more usable public open space, but said the sale of land was not confirmed as it was a State Government decision. She said the Town continued community consultation throughout the process.