Published on Thursday, 17 October 2024 at 11:21:46 AM

Earlier this week significant tree removal works commenced on the land at the corner of East Parade and Guildford Road in Mt Lawley.

This land is owned by the State Government and is planned for social and affordable housing as part of the first round of the State Government’s Housing Diversity Pipeline.

Before redevelopment of the site can happen, the Department of Planning, Lands, and Heritage (DPLH) needs to remediate (or clean up) the site. This is needed because the land is contaminated with asbestos that DPLH has indicated is likely from old construction debris.

Approvals Process

The site remediation work by DPLH involves digging up the top layer of soil up to 0.8 metres deep to remove the asbestos and make the site safe for residential use.

The site remediation work is classified as ‘public works’. This type of work does not need development approval from the City of Vincent, but it does require approval under the Metropolitan Region Scheme (MRS) from the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC). The City is consulted and provides its comments on the proposed works before the WAPC makes its decision.

On July 26, 2024, the DPLH sent a public works application for the site remediation work to the City. This is what was included:

• Application forms and the Certificate of Title for the land.
• Plans showing the proposed work and a survey of the site. This did not indicate tree removal.
• A letter from the DPLH explaining the planned work and confirming no trees would be removed as part of site remediation.
• An Arborist Report on the health of the trees on-site. This noted no major issues that would require tree removal.
• A Remediation Action Plan (RAP) detailing how the remediation should be carried out. The RAP set out that there is no need to impact trees on-site during remediation works and recommending that all trees should be protected during the work.

Tree Removal

On 11 September 2024, the DPLH informed the City that further site investigation had identified the need to remove 10 trees to complete the site remediation and allow for future redevelopment. DPLH shared the following in support of the tree removal:

• Detailed Asbestos in Soil Investigation and an Additional Contamination Assessment prepared by independent environmental consultants outline:
  • the site is impacted by widespread Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) contamination as a result of historically imported fill and poor demolition practices.
  • to ascertain the impact of contamination on trees, additional investigations included extensive trenching of tree root areas cross the site which identified areas of ACM contamination and other demolition waste within the tree root areas and concluded that the contamination impacts also extend through the tree root systems.    
  • these results have been reviewed and accepted by an independent environmental auditor.  
  • redevelopment of the site cannot progress until the site is suitably reclassified for residential use to permit the intended development outcome.   
  • without full remediation of the impacted tree root areas appropriate reclassification of the site to facilitate the intended future development outcome will not be achieved.
  • full remediation and validation of the soil around the tree roots is detrimental to the health and viability of the trees requiring the trees to be removed.

• Proposed remediation and tree removal approach:

• • Based on the results of detailed investigations, and the recommendations of the environmental consultants, in order to successfully remediate the site to eliminate ACM contamination to a suitable standard and permit new residential development to occur as intended, it is proposed that the trees identified for removal on the tree retention plan are removed prior to remediation commencing to allow complete remediation of the tree root areas in those locations.
  • In addition to the contamination impacts, the trees proposed to be removed have also been identified as ultimately requiring removal to facilitate the intended future development outcome planned for the site. Removing the trees at the remediation stage will ensure that the development area is fully remediated and not limited by environmental restrictions or a requirement to carry out further investigations and remediation work. This also ensures that al (sic) other trees can be retained and protected throughout remediation and into the development stage.
  • An Arborist Report prepared for DPLH identifies 34 trees across the site. It is proposed to remove 10 trees as well as some clusters of large shrubs and retain the remaining 24 trees. Based on the Arborist Report, the tree retention plan results in 5 out of the 7 trees of high significance and 12 out of 15 trees of medium significance being retained. The remaining 5 trees to be removed are assessed as having a low retention value.
  • Every effort has been made to ensure the retention of the greatest number of high value native and endemic trees resulting in the retention of 24 of the 34 trees.

The City does not have record of receiving any updated arborist, environmental or other technical reports to support this abovementioned information from DPLH.

There are also 35 trees on the site.

DPLH advised that the removal of trees would be dealt with as part of the public works application for site remediation.

The City of Vincent’s Response

On October 7 2024, the City responded to DPLH’s application referral. The City confirmed it supported the site remediation proposal but subject to the following:

• Recommended against removing any trees. The City suggested further investigation and to explore alternatives in order to retain trees on the site.
• A condition of approval for all trees being retained and protected from damage during site remediation work.
• A condition of approval for a construction management plan to control dust and traffic, and to manage site works.
• Recommended DPLH notify the surrounding owners and occupiers community about the work and to provide updates throughout the site works process.

The City acknowledges that it is possible to remove trees on the site without needing approval under the City’s Local Planning Scheme No. 2.

WAPC’s Decision

On 14 October 2024, WAPC made its decision to approve the public works application. This permitted the removal of 10 trees on the site and included a condition to protect from damage the remaining trees to be retained during remediation works.

WAPC advised the following in respect to tree removal and its decision:

• Metro Central North has now determined the application and imposed a condition to ensure the trees identified for retention in the Trees Location Plan are protected during the works.
• The Remediation Action Plan has been independently peer reviewed and additional advice has been provided confirming that the asbestos containing material contamination in the roots of certain trees necessitates tree removal.
• The rationale for not imposing a condition to require retention of all trees as part of the remediation works is that this will hinder the required works and potentially result in the requirement for later removal and further remediation.

Next Steps

DPLH has a valid approval to undertake remediation of the site.

The City will liaise closely with DPLH on their redevelopment plans. Future redevelopment of the site would be subject to a separate application process.

For updates on this project, you can check the DPLH website here.

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