Dawesville resident Maria Gawor is worried that the nature corridor near her house could go up in flames in summer and emergency services wouldn’t be able to access the site, after the City of Mandurah erected a fence around the reserve with no vehicle access.
Ms Gawor said a fire in the reserve could be catastrophic, since the caravan park, where there’s tens of gas bottles, is only a few metres away.
The only access to the reserve from Seaview circle is through a few metres of unfenced bushland, but monitoring equipment and meters from the Water Corporation block any vehicle access to the site.
“The strata has only four fire hydrants on Seaview Circle, an electric pump to pump bore water and if the power goes off, no water,” she said.
“Every caravan has a gas bottle.
“Any emergency vehicles cannot access the bushland if there’s a fire as the City of Mandurah did not place a gate in the new fence.”
She is also concerned that there is no gate on the newly set up fence, preventing residents and community members from being able to enter the public reserve from Seaview Circle.
She said the nature corridor used to be a busy strip, with students crossing from the properties near Chapman Road to the bus stop near the Dawesville IGA on Old Coast Road to get to school.
“Children have to walk fifteen minutes around the block to catch the bus in Old Coast Road, where previously they could walk along the firebreak and be at the bus stop in three minutes,” she said.
A City of Mandurah spokeswoman said the fence was installed around the public open space as part of the subdivision project of nearby estate Peels Retreat, dated from 2011.
“The last stage of Peels Retreat was completed in December 2016 and the completion of this plan was also required,” she said.
“This included fencing being installed around the greenbelt corridor, which is located to the north of the subdivision and to the south of the caravan park.
“This also includes a requirement to maintain the weeds and replant the area, which has since been carried out.”
The spokeswoman said the City of Mandurah had liaised with the caravan park during the fencing stage to ensure the caravan park still has access to their infrastructure and caravan spaces.
She said pedestrian access was still available, but acknowledged there is no long vehicle access from the caravan park side.
She also said mulch had been placed in the corridor in preparation for winter planting.
Marta Pascual Juanola
Photojournalist from Barcelona, currently based in WA. Five languages speaker: English - Català - Español - Norsk - العربية.
Photojournalist from Barcelona, currently based in WA. Five languages speaker: English - Català - Español - Norsk - العربية.
