The battle to save the native bushland on Erindale Road in Hamersley has taken another step forward.
BAI Communications, formerly Broadcast Australia, proposed repurposing 12.39 ha of land adjacent to the transmitting tower so it could be developed for housing.
According to a report from the City of Stirling, BAI Communications decided the site – bordered by Erindale Road, Lennox Place, and Reid Highway – was “excess to its demands”.
While the site’s redevelopment is subject to approval from federal and state environmental agencies, which is yet to be determined, Stirling councilors have expressed their position by voting unanimously not to support the zoning change.
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City officials said clearing the site, which is about 90 percent covered in vegetation, “would significantly impact local biodiversity values.”
According to a council report, the vegetation is “on the federal list of endangered ecological communities.”
Camera icon Black cockatoos use the bushland of Erindale Road as a foraging area. Credit: Facebook
The report said it was also premature to consider repurposing the site before the state permitted to clear the land.
Both federal and state authorities have asked for more information to conduct their assessments, and once they receive it, they will publish the proposals for comment.
Reports and recommendations will then be submitted to the respective environment ministers to make their decisions.
However, the council’s report noted that the federal department said the proposal would have “a significant impact on a matter of national environmental concern.”
And the proposal was submitted to the State Department because it had a “significant effect on the environment”, which was later changed to a proposal to compensate for the loss of vegetation.
Camera icon Friends of Erindale Road Bushland have petitioned the state parliament calling for the protection of the Hamersley site. Credit: Facebook
In the meantime, the city engaged a consultant to review the applicant’s environmental report, which “revealed several issues” with its flora and vegetation survey.
The council report also recommends that city officials “explore appropriate legislative mechanisms to protect the site’s biodiversity values,” which should be classified as a Locally Important Natural Area.
The battle to save the bushland has been ongoing for the past two years, with nearly 550 members joining the Friends of Erindale Road Bushland Facebook group to campaign against the site being cleaned up.
Late last year, they presented a petition calling for the protection of the bushland with more than 1,400 signatures to the state parliament.
Camera icon Members of the Friends of Erindale Road Bushland. Credit: Facebook
Hamersley’s mother, Marie Giorgi, previously told PerthNow that the bushland was a foraging and breeding ground for black cockatoos, which were already endangered due to habitat loss.
She said the council’s recent decision was a “wonderful achievement in our efforts to protect the bushland” but was “just one small step in a very complicated and long process”.
“Alone, it doesn’t preserve the bushland, and so we will continue to need strong support,” she said.
