Annual Report 2015-2016 - Highlights

Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategy

Council adopted a Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategy which will guide the City in responding to climate change. These actions aim to minimise the risk to the community from increasing temperature, reduced rainfall, extreme weather events, coastal storm surges and other climate-related risks.

In endorsing the Strategy, Council highlighted the importance of ongoing tree planting initiatives, the need to be proactive in addressing the reduced availability of water for the City’s growing community, and the protection of existing vegetation and landform in new development areas.

The next action in the implementation of the Strategy includes the development of an Energy Reduction Plan, which will identify ways that the City can reduce its overall energy use, and by association, its carbon footprint. In this regard Council noted that looking after the environment can also make good economic sense.

Nature Conservation Tree Planting

During winter, 14,000 trees from tube stock were planted in conservation reserves with the support of local schools, community groups and local residents. These winter planting events provided an opportunity to engage with the local community and support the City's conservation volunteers and local schools. The events also helped to improve biodiversityand raise awareness of local natural areas.

The planting receive positive feedback from the community, and aligned with the objectives of the City’s Strategic Community Plan and Public Health Plan.

Greening our City - Landscape Improvements on our Main Roads

The City has been busy undertaking landscape improvement works in median strips on Wanneroo Road (Beach Road to Joondalup Drive) and Marmion Avenue (southern boundary to Hughie Edwards Drive). Works include pruning existing trees and
mulching as well as removal of some understory vegetation, debris and rubbish.

The works will help the City improve presentation on these roads, which are the main carriageways for many residents and visitors in and out of the City. A total of 600 trees were planted on the Wanneroo Road median and 430 trees planted on the
Marmion Avenue median which will provide excellent canopy cover in years to come.

The City intends to continue these works in the 2016/17 financial year to improve the medians on the intersections of Wanneroo Road/Joondalup Drive, Wanneroo Road/Ocean Reef Road, Wanneroo Road/Whitfords Avenue and Wanneroo Road/Hepburn Avenue.

Public Open Space

On 5 April 2016 Council adopted a revised Local Planning Policy 4.3: Public Open Space following an extensive period of stakeholder engagement.

The revised Policy featured a range of water efficiency provisions, including the need for new parks and open spaces to consider the reduced availability of groundwater for irrigation and for designs to be consistent with the North West Corridor Water Supply Strategy that was jointly prepared by the City of Wanneroo and the Department of Water. This has resulted in improved innovation in public open space design to maintain functionality and amenity while minimising water use.

Conservation Reserves

On 11 December 2015, the final approval of Amendment No. 109 to District Planning Scheme No 2, was published in the Government Gazette following work on this initiative by the City over a number of years.

Amendment No. 109 introduced a new ‘Conservation’ reserve classification into the City’s planning scheme to recognise the important role that many of the City’s local reserves play in conservation and biodiversity protection. This new classification was applied to a number of local reserves across the City of Wanneroo, to differentiate their function from the generic ‘parks and recreation’ classification that previously applied, and to provide an additional layer of protection for these reserves into the future.

Sustainability Investment Fund

The City continued its investment in sustainability infrastructure by maximising the number of solar panels on the existing solar arrays at Aquamotion, Clarkson Library and Kingsway Indoor Stadium.

The additional panels installed at these facilities will ensure that the City can maximise the amount of energy generated through solar power and minimise the operating cost of these high energy use facilities. In addition to the solar panels, the City installed a Voltage Optimisation System at Aquamotion that regulates the supply of electricity drawn from the grid to better match the actual energy needs of the facility. This will reduce unnecessary energy use and reduce operating costs.