The Housing Authority has defended its decision to proceed with a housing development on the old Ferndale Primary School oval site saying the suburb already has plenty of public open space.
The Housing Authority will develop the school oval into 13 single residential and five grouped dwelling sites
Residents and nearby Fountain College who bought the old Ferndale Primary School buildings want to keep the oval for school and community use. Housing Authority general manager commercial operations Nigel Hindmarsh said the Ferndale Primary School site was an ideal location for a medium density, affordable residential development.
“It is 12-kilometres from the Perth CBD and has good public transport links (connections to the Bull Creek and Cannington Stations), regional open space, community and education facilities,” he said.
“The Ferndale area has large community recreation spaces and the development of our site will not impact them. Housing has provided an area of 7076-square metres of public open space which equates to 28 per cent of the site.
This is well in excess of the WA Planning Commission’s requirement of 10 per cent.”
Mr Hindmarsh said Housing discussed in late 2013 the possibility of a land swap with the City of Canning but it did not get off the ground.
“The site offered by the City of Canning did not meet Housing’s requirements in terms of size or zoning so it was not progressed,” he said.
He said Housing’s developments and infill development opportunities in well-serviced areas like this one were in line with the Planning Commission’s ‘Directions 2031’ planning framework.
