South Perth Train Station Survey Results

Questions regarding the South Perth Train station survey:

Please attribute the below information to City CEO Cliff Frewing

Why did it take six months for the results from the survey to be tallied?
As soon as the City received the survey results from the consultant, a report was prepared and presented to Council. After the Council considered the report, it was made publicly available.

Please attribute the below information to City Mayor John Collins

Because 18 per cent of respondents said they were unsure where the station would be located, will the council be providing locals with more information about the project?
The South Perth Train Station precinct is within the Mill Street precinct of South Perth. The station will be located within the Kwinana Freeway reserve, in the area between Richardson and Bowman Street.

Communication during Stage 1 included an information brochure that outlined the purpose and scope of the project and opportunities for community involvement, information and media statements on the City of South Perth website, media statements and community forum advertisements in the Southern Gazette, and community forum postcard advertisements sent to residents in the immediate vicinity of the South Perth Station.

Now that Council has received the survey report highlighting key areas, the second stage can be initiated, which will involve further investigation of the project and the preparation of a precinct plan for each train station - further community consultation and the dissemination of pertinent information to the local public will be undertaken in conjunction with the Stage 2 planning. The process so far has been informative, and the second stage involving the Department of Planning and Infrastructure and the City will be the appropriate time to furnish the public with further details, bearing in mind that it may potentially be 2011 before the station is built. 

49 per cent of respondents said that the station would increase bad street parking. How is the city going to work around that?
The purpose of the community engagement in Stage 1 was to highlight resident’s key areas of concern such as this. The input and visioning gathered from the community in Stage 1 will inform Stage 2 of the project, which will involve developing formal planning strategies for the precincts.

Some of the parking management suggestions given during community consultation in Stage 1 have included the implementation of paid parking and time restrictions to manage any increased demand for parking and to deter people from parking and riding, the consideration of a transfer bus service that operates between the train station and major landmarks throughout the local area such as schools and shops, and the encouragement of passengers to walk and/or cycle to the station. However, since Stage 2 is not complete it is too early to comment on specific strategies for dealing with the concerns raised in community engagement. At this stage it is appropriate to say that there is an emphasis that the station not be of a ‘park and ride’ nature.

Was the Mayor happy with the results? Were there any areas of concern?
The community engagement has was intended to highlight areas of concern and gather feedback from the community as to their visioning for the future of the train station precincts, and it has been highly successful in delivering this information. With this input, it is now possible to move forward with Stage 2 of the project and develop formal planning strategies, taking the community’s concerns such as parking or traffic volume into account.

There is support in the community for the South Perth Train Station, as demonstrated by the survey results - when asked if they expect to use the train service to get to work or other frequently-visited places, 46% of respondents said they would. A total of 29% of respondents said that they would use the station daily or weekly while another 24% expect to use it but less often.