Volunteer firefighters voice concerns at bushfire safety in Cowaramup, Margaret River subdivision changes

The region’s firefighters have called on the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River to tighten up bushfire planning in major subdivisions. The most recent meeting of the local government’s bushfire advisory committee heard a call from Cowaramup Volunteer Bushfire Brigade for the shire to adhere to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services’ much stricter advice when it came to bushfire safety in its planning decisions. At the committee’s February meeting, Cowaramup brigade proxy and former shire president Jamie McCall singled out Parkwater Estate in particular for the planting of high fire-risk trees, including peppermints. His concerns were reportedly echoed by committee members who noted similar risks in other locations. While the committee urged shire chief executive Andrea Selvey to mandate low fire-risk vegetation and landscaping as well as the use of roads to separate housing from identified hazards, that call was modified by the local government’s planning officers. Instead, last week’s council meeting saw elected members unanimously back a final recommendation informed by the volunteers’ feedback that instead preferences road layouts as a hazard-reduction measure. The committee’s resolution also backed the influence of DFES’ planning expectations as guided by the recently revised State policy 3.7 on bushfire-prone areas. Under the change, planners would instead give “due regard” to DFES’ policy position. Councillors had already voiced concerns last year that changes made to bushfire planning in Perth failed to consider specific conditions in the Capes region, particularly as it pertained to holiday homes in bushfire-prone areas. Last week’s report conveying volunteers’ concerns also noted structure plans for housing estates were ultimately decided by the WA Planning Commission. Planners also said the bushfire guidelines cited by Mr McCall offered alternative solutions to meeting risk standards beyond reliance on road layouts, which included demonstration of performance outcomes. “In considering the specific application of performance solutions, the advice of DFES is not intended to be binding on the decision-maker,” planners noted. “All submissions, including those of DFES, are provided to the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage to enable them to make an informed decision.” The state of play was too complex for any one focus to be mandated, the report said. “Given the State policy framework and different methods of achieving compliance, this cannot be made mandatory as suggested, but can be highlighted as a preferred method of achieving compliance in assessment and recommendation to the DPLH,” planners said. Planners also did not consider individual trees merited major risks to bushfire attack level assessments, but vegetation in its future mature state should be thoroughly considered in landscape assessment, particularly by developers. They also noted the brigade’s concerns around buffers also extended to the contentious Goldfields development on the west side of Bussell Highway on the southern edge of the Cowaramup township currently under review by the WAPC.