FAQs

Sustainable Open Spaces (SOS) Master Planning is a strategic process designed to coordinate the future management of the Town’s irrigated parks and sports ovals. It considers the sustainability of current management practices with respect to current and future management challenges. SOS Master Planning aims to future proof the Town’s irrigated parks and ensure that community recreational needs are met now and into the future at the most economic whole-of life cost.

There are numerous current and future management challenges which, if not addressed, have the potential to significantly hinder the Town’s ability to maintain and present its irrigated parks as ‘fit for use’ into the future. In all, there are 34 public recreational parks in the Town: • 24 are irrigated using groundwater from the Town’s licenced entitlement. • 5 are irrigated using scheme water. • 4 are not currently irrigated. • 1 is irrigated using groundwater from another entitlement. These management challenges are impacting presentation and useability of the Town’s parks at present. In addition, there are various imminent and foreseeable challenges which are likely to further disrupt management of the Town’s open spaces. SOS Master Planning seeks to establish the basic arrangements and specifications for infrastructure and soft and hard landscape elements in each park. Once arrangements are established, this will provide the foundation to address the management challenges and enable parks to reach their potential.

The key challenges that are being considered during the process include:

Groundwater entitlement reduction: All groundwater abstracted from aquifers in WA is regulated under a licencing system administered by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER). The Town irrigates 24 parks by abstracting groundwater from the superficial aquifer, commonly known as the Gnangara Mound, within the Gnangara groundwater system. 

In June 2022, DWER released the Gnangara Groundwater Allocation Plan (GGAP). The GGAP has established there will be 54 gigalitres (54,000,000,000 l) less groundwater allocated for abstraction from the Gnangara groundwater system effective as of 1 July 2028. The reduction is to be shared across all licenced users. In practical terms, this results in a confirmed reduction of 10% to the Town’s current licenced groundwater entitlement.

 Below is a summary of the groundwater management challenges:

• DWER has classified the superficial aquifer resource within the Town as over allocated and will not approve new groundwater entitlements or increases to existing entitlements.
• The Town’s Groundwater Licence (GWL) currently allocates an entitlement of 316,600 kilolitres (kl) of groundwater per year for the purpose of irrigating 45.51 hectares of open space. As of 1 July 2028, the entitlement will be reduced to 284,940 kl per year. 
• DWER has foreshadowed there are likely to be further future reductions to entitlements beyond the already confirmed 10% reduction.
• In order that turf is maintained to an acceptable standard into the future, the overall area of turf under irrigation needs reducing by > 10%.

Deteriorating groundwater quality: The quality of the groundwater in the Gnangara Mound is influenced by factors including: properties of the soil/ground through which water infiltrates (or interacts with) and the presence of any natural or manmade chemical compounds. o proximity of the aquifer to other bodies of water (e.g., rivers & sea). o volume of water within the aquifer. Superficial aquifer volume varies due to natural recharge from rainfall, recharge from non-natural sources, water infiltrating into deeper confined aquifers, natural discharge into outflow boundaries (e.g., creeks, rivers, sea) and abstraction for irrigation and other purposes. The quality of groundwater abstracted for irrigation is in turn influenced by bore depth, pumping infrastructure and pumping practices. Reducing abstraction and increasing the volume of storm water that can be captured and directly infiltrated will assist with improving groundwater quality across the broader area. 

Preserving the Town’s urban forest and tree canopy cover: The Town’s urban forest comprises all trees and other vegetation on both public and private land. Increased development in the Town is resulting in reduction of vegetation and tree canopy cover within the private property component of the urban forest. As a result, there will be greater importance placed on the public realm component of the urban forest into the future. The Town needs to respond and plan for public tree and vegetation planting to offset any reductions.  

Provision of natural environment: There are a multitude of community benefits associated with natural environments. These benefits become more meaningful in context of an increasingly urbanised Town. Research has demonstrated that natural environments assist to: 

• Improve mood.
• Reduce feelings of stress and anger.
• Induce feelings of relaxation.
• Lower blood pressure.
• Enhance immune system function.
• Improve cognition.
• Improve physical health.
• Connect people to their local community.

Increasing more natural vegetation in parks improves greenway corridors and linkages between natural areas. This assists in increasing the resilience of urban areas and wildlife in the event of natural disasters along with improving storm water infiltration and reducing heat island effects.

A warming and drying climate: Evidence from research has shown the climate is changing in southwest WA with increasing temperatures, reducing rainfall and an increased risk of severe weather. Mean annual rainfall in Perth has decreased by more than 15% since the mid-1970s, with temperatures increasing between 0.50 -1.00 Celsius. A change of thinking is required in design and management of public open space, infrastructure and landscapes to adequately accommodate and mitigate the impacts of a warming and drying climate.

Declining vegetation health: The health of many existing plants located in the Town’s parks is impacted by the environment in which they grow. Reduced rainfall and increased temperatures subject plants to their physiological thresholds more often and for longer periods, effectively placing them under stress. The ability of mature and post mature plants to fight off the effects of pest and disease activity during long periods of stress is significantly reduced. Many plants have been planted overtime without suitable planning. The impacts to plant health from poor choice of species and location is often exacerbated by operational activities. Selecting appropriate plant species and planting location is a fundamental planning exercise which requires careful consideration of many complex factors.

Increasing incidence of plant pest insects and disease: Over recent years, there has been a trend of increased plant pest activity associated with established and newly introduced insects and disease. When combined with plant stress, the effects of pest insects and disease presents the risk of increasing plant deaths. 

Increasing and changing demand for open space: Increasing population drives increasing open space demand. Increased demand places stress on soft and hard landscape elements, which in turn places increased burden on resourcing to maintain acceptable levels of presentation and useability. Population profile is also changing towards a demographic that has more diverse recreational needs. A diverse demographic brings with it competing interests between open space users, which needs to be catered for as much as is reasonably possible.

Substandard accessibility to facilities: The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) places an obligation on Local governments to ensure that when facilities are being renewed, these comply with contemporary accessibility standards, ensuring public facilities are accessible to people of all abilities. Many of the Town’s parks have facilities that are outdated and do not meet contemporary accessibility standards. 

Management of ageing parks assets: Council’s Assets Management policy prescribes a focus on providing services in line with the Town’s Strategic Community Plan (SCP), with priority given to renewing existing assets and services over providing new ones. As a consequence, priority will be given to renewal of parks assets that support use of green spaces as much as possible and appropriate management of facilities to meet current and future needs. The current irrigation system at Genders Park has significant design deficiencies compared to modern systems. The system has reached the end of its useful life and requires replacement to address substantial operating and design inefficiencies. Asset management and adjustments to park design will be focused on ensuring existing assets and facilities are safe and functional as the priority, with consideration given to allowing the potential for future enhancements.  

No; the Water Corporation will not provide new connections to the reticulated scheme water network for the purposes of watering public open space. In any event, the significant cost increase associated with using scheme water for irrigation would be prohibitive.

Hydro-zoning is a water conservation principle in park and irrigation design. It defines zones where plants and vegetation with similar watering requirements are grouped together. High water use and low water use plants are separated into respective hydro-zones where the irrigation system is then designed with the ability to deliver watering to each zone independently. Eco-zoning refers to areas zoned for plants where their watering needs can generally be met by rainfall alone and have little or no need for external irrigation. Hydrozoning and eco-zoning is being integrated into park and irrigation design across the Perth metropolitan region as established best practice for groundwater conservation.

The Town is proposing to establish a new eco-zone within the park by converting an appropriate percentage of turf into mulch and plants that will receive reduced watering. This is proposed as a measure to reduce groundwater use and address water quality which is increasingly becoming less compatible with turf and plant health. Existing mature trees and newly establishing trees benefit from being mulched to their drip line and not having to compete with turf for water. Many tree and plant species also receive health benefits by reducing or removing the poor quality irrigation water and allowing soil to return to a more natural state. The alternative to reducing the area of grass areas would be reducing watering to grass to levels that would not support satisfactory grass growth. This would eventually result in large areas of sparse and sandy ground similar to that being experienced. Will feedback and suggestions for new facilities be implemented? The Town is mindful of community aspirations and needs to balance these against managing the basic requirements for park presentation and useability. Feedback will be used as a basis for considering future works. The Town has initiated this project to resolve key operational challenges and has limited capacity within the constraints it operates to accommodate other park improvements at present

Following the conclusion of community engagement, the Town will assess all feedback and may adjust the concept plan where a pattern of similar suggestions is identified, these are appropriate and can be accommodated. The adopted final concept plan will be presented on the Town’s ‘YourSay’ engagement portal with explanatory notes accompanying any amendments to the draft concept plan. Once the SOS Master Plan is finalised, delivery of works will commence in accordance with the below provisional schedule: 2023/24 Capital Works Program • Design and install new reticulation system • Install 180 m (approx.) of 150 mm x 150 mm concrete mowing edge • Establish eco-zone • Replace 4 x park benches to make DDA standards compliant • Install new DDA standards compliant drinking fountain with dog bowl • Design and install new park name signs x 2 2024/25 Capital Works Program • Integration of central control capability for reticulation 2025/26 Capital Works Program • Replace combination picnic table and shelter to make DDA standards compliant (at end of useful life) Future Works for Consideration • Replace BBQ with DDA standards complaint unit (at end of useful life) • Lighting of internal footpath to relevant standard • Replacement of 182 m of existing 1.2 m wide path with 1.8 m wide DDA standards compliant path.