The Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority has completed several projects in Midland’s city centre over the past six years attracting hundreds of millions in private investment while no new projects have started in Armadale.
Research by The Examiner into the projects and money spent in the two eastern most strategic regional centres reveals vastly different stories since the MRA took over from the respective Midland and Armadale redevelopment authorities in 2011.
State budgets show while $103.8 million had been budgeted by the MRA to be spent on the Armadale area from the 2010-11 financial year to last financial year, only $75.4 million had been spent.
This money has been spread out on non-CBD projects including fi nishing the Champion Lakes project in 2011, the Kelmscott CBD, the Seville Grove estate and Forrestdale Business Park, which were all started by the former Armadale Redevelopment Authority.
No major project has been started for more than six years and no soil has been turned on the MRA’s only Armadale CBD redevelopment project – City West of Rail on Green Street.
The City West of Rail project was also devised by the ARA before 2010.
In the same period the MRA has spent $72 million in Midland on projects like the railway workshops upgrade and Clayton and Helena precincts.
It has also worked with other agencies to fix traffic issues with the $80 million Lloyd Street rail underpass.
The works have drawn massive private investment including the recently opened $360 million public private hospital, apartment buildings and a new 144-room short stay hotel and apartment building being planned for the workshops precinct.
The MRA has spent $22.5 million on the Wungong Urban project, which will bring thousands of families into the Armadale area but work has progressed slowly.
Planning Minister Donna Faragher was contacted for comment but referred her response to the MRA, which only provided background information.
The response said the MRA’s role in Armadale and Wungong differed to other metropolitan projects.
“In Armadale and Wungong the MRA guides development of land in private ownership while in Midland the MRA has a directive to redevelop Crown land,” it said.
“Across its redevelopment portfolio, the MRA works to unlock development potential that has been previously constrained, often due to physical or planning considerations.
“With more than 500 landowners across the Armadale and Wungong project areas, ranging from large organisations to small businesses and single families, the MRA’s role is to engage with key stakeholders to facilitate development and deliver long-term planning and environmental benefi ts for the area.
“The MRA has established developer contribution schemes, bought land and completed the planning and design to facilitate provision of essential services infrastructure and community amenity.
“Since 2012 the MRA has considered more than 1900 development applications representing a total estimated investment value of $605 million.”
The response said actual budget spending was dictated by the progress of certain developments influenced by market conditions and other factors outside of the MRA’s control.
It said a structure plan for City West of Rail has been completed and design guidelines are currently being drafted.
“The plans and associated developer contribution schemes for City West of Rail and Forrestdale Business Park West are expected to be released for public comment before the end of the year,” it said.
Poor cousin to Perth and Midland
Member for Armadale Tony Buti believes the Armadale city centre and its surrounds have stagnated over the past six years.
A former member of the Armadale Redevelopment Authority, Dr Buti said when the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority took over in 2011 revitalisation had stopped.
“Overall nothing has happened,” he said.
“When the Armadale Redevelopment Authority was around we did Champion Lakes, we did the train station, we started the Wungong Urban Renewal project and Forrestdale Business Park.
“We would have liked to have done more but they were major achievements.
“The idea of the ARA was to focus attention on the area and try to overcome some of the planning issues that councils might find.
“Since it’s amalgamated to the MRA, there was always this concern I had that Armadale was going to be the poor cousins and focus was going to be on other areas, that’s been proven by the Perth CBD and Midland and other areas.
“It’s policy settings being driven by the State Government and then of course the MRA are complying with those policy settings and it’s just annoying.
“We’ve stagnated.”
Dr Buti said since the MRA’s existence, the state went through one of its biggest ever booms but Armadale saw little of it.
“We did have the GFC, but post GFC when the MRA was formed in 2011, we’ve missed the opportunity and now of course we’re in an economic downturn and it’s going to be even harder,” he said.
“It’s a real problem because Armadale went through a real stagnant period during the 80s and 90s then was revitalised during the 2000s.
“We’ve just stagnated again.”
He said his advocacy had fallen on deaf ears in parliament.
“There’s no doubt the political forces of this government have little priority in the Armadale area,” he said.
Armadale left behind says Armadale mayor
Armadale has been left behind as a strategic regional centre but the structure of the former Armadale Redevelopment Authority was partly to blame, according to City of Armadale mayor Henry Zelones.
Mr Zelones said it was a complicated issue.
“In real bricks and mortar and concrete and definable outcomes, yeah, significantly less was spent in Armadale in achieving that,” he said.
“Our city centre as a strategic regional centre is probably struggling and I think we’re happy to admit that.”
He said the former Midland Redevelopment Authority was given an advantage from the get go when it was given more valuable land with money making assets on it.
“The turnaround in 2008 when the Barnett Government came in, which shifted the individual redevelopment authorities to the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority, kind of slowed the whole process down here in Armadale,” he said.
“Where as with the Midland one, because that was an ongoing project with internal funding available to them both from the land assets and from the funding they were raising put Armadale at a severe disadvantage.”
Mr Zelones is disappointed he hasn’t seen major employers move into the city centre like they had in Midland.
“I as mayor and the previous mayor Linton Reynolds both had hopes of course we would see a major office building, which has never occurred, that only occurred because the city built it,” he said.
“There was plans for a TAFE, which didn’t occur, we’re still fiddling around the edges with that but we understand they are not investing any more bricks and mortar into that themselves.”
Mr Zelones said the MRA needed to get started on the city west of railway precinct, which would see people and businesses flood into the CBD.
He was happy to see the recent Justice Complex land purchase announcement and the city would continue to push the State Government for further investment in the CBD in the lead up to the March 2017 election.
‘Cut the crap’ says Harrison
Business Armadale president Paul Harrison said he understood some of the financial and planning constraints the MRA had in Armadale, but it was time to invest in the area.
Mr Harrison said in the past five years money spent in the area wasn’t the amount it needed.
“We need to keep everyone honest and keep the attention on Armadale because we haven’t got too much over the years,” he said.
“I think we need to cut the crap and make stuff happen, that’s the key.
“Midland’s had a good go and it looks really good now, Perth has had a good crack with Elizabeth Quay. Armadale has to get their fair lick.
“They need to start spending some money down this way.”
