Do you have any other comments, ideas or suggestions

The overall concept of the playground has merit however, it is evident that there has been no consideration given to the needs of residents of the area, both existing and future. Placement of the park immediately adjacent to housing will generate noise pollution. Expedient placement of a large carpark, toilet block, kiosk and maintenance shed in front people's homes shows a callous disregard for rate payer's lifestyle. Please reconsider the orientation and placement of this park and create a buffer between the new park and land owners in what has been one of the most pleasant places to live in the City of Swan.

The scale of this proposed project appears enormous. I have to query whether so many separate play spaces, an amphitheatre, picnic lawn, BBQs, kiosk etc etc would actually fit in the area outlined on the map we were provided with by the City at the meeting of November 4. And… why has this large adventure playground been placed immediately adjacent to resident’s homes? Simply moving it north, opposite the canoe shed and reorienting it so that buildings and amenities are placed away from housing would quickly resolve all issues. Please consider the needs of City residents when planning for the future.

The final decision needs to be very understanding towards the existing residents, the proposed area is far to close to the residents that live there. I would like to know what security will be in place to prevent this area from being destroyed?

Agreeing with Sam1. Have any costigs been done on maintaining such a grandoise plan? It will be hugely expensive to maintain and to ensure it has security or it will be destroyed at night time.

This plan is quite ambitious and basically very good. The only thing that concerns us is the proposed position of a car park, maintenance shed, kiosk and toilets, practically in residents' back yards. Our quiet lifestyle, as we know it, would be gone forever. Pushing the whole project north would eliminate these problems for the residents. A point worth remembering is that the site used to be a tip not that long ago. What has been overlooked in all of these grand plans is the historical nature of the area with its connection to Governor Stirling. Some sort of commemorative statue or replica of the cottage would be most appropriate. Also overlooked is Blackadder Creek which should be brought back to life. The old jetty should also be rebuilt.

We love the concept of having this type of park in our local area. As parents to 5 kids, with 3 under the age of 6, something like this would be of value to us, and the area. However we do have a couple of concerns, mainly for security against vandals and general riff raff. The area is quite secluded, and hidden well. Also what about the cleaning of the park. It is very unfortunate that this area is well known for it's drug problems, as well as aboriginal issues. How are you going to police the park from needles, fires, broken glass, and other stuff that could end up harming the children. We also feel that the local residents are right, and maybe moving the park up abit more, so that the carpark etc is not right on top of them. As for the noise of traffic, and kids, well I am sorry, but that is life, this is suburbia, and well lets be honest, what would you prefer, the laughter and happiness of kids, and a few cars, or the whole area to be demolished and transformed into more housing. I personally know what I would want.

Some form of redevelopment of this area including the addition of a children’s play area would be welcomed. However, plans to convert this area into a major tourist attraction appear to have been developed with a total disregard for the local residents. Having bas/car parks and toilet blocks built adjacent to the backyards of a large number of residents is completely inappropriate. I would also question to wisdom of building something of this scale on a floodplain.

Oh my goodness I cant believe most of the above comments... the negative NIMBYs are alive and well it seems! Shame on all of you I say. I was feeling so happy reading the other discussion with all the kids hopes and dreams, and then come here to see all the uninformed paranoia and preciousness - what a contrast!

Sorry but this has really got my wife and I worked up reading this. We live in Woodbridge nearby the park and think this is a near perfect use of the area with a good arrangment of green space and kids areas in a design very considerate of the existing area... lots of green and gardens, with the carpark designed to go where the current bitumen is.

We got an information sheet from the City at a display yesterday at the shops, and comparing that to your comments - from our perspective you really are clutching at straws and just attempting to stonewall this using any off-the-mark excuse you can find it seems.

I am guessing you are all some of those new houses at the end of Bayley and First Avenues... you act like the shire is forcefully resuming YOUR land and putting a skyscraper on your doorstep or something. We use the park and playground and bbqs already down there many weekends and its already very popular with lots of cars and families, let alone during the days where its always been an oval used by high school kids so its hardly a massive change of the use. Anyone with half a brain knows when you buy next to a large recreation area you get noise and cars and run the chance of new recreation type buildings being done. Obviously noone likes it if a skatepark or clubrooms were built outside their window, but if people buy next to a large reserve then thats the risk you are taking... and are you getting a skate park? No - you are getting a beautiful garden and picnic area, with some playground areas near the river a couple of hundred metres from you where kids can have fun... heaven forbid hey!? How dare they! Its the end of the world! Especially amazing since the designs have shown toilets, large carpark, buildings and playground in that location for 5 years when we first knew the shire was finally going to improve the place and had a display down at the park... all able to be found out if youd requested information on the riverside park (or just looked on the shire website) before you built or purchased since then, or plenty of time to sell up in the past 5 years if it really was going to be the end of the world for you... too late to cry 'no toilets!' now in my opinion. My wife and I have only been criticising how long its taken to get this far since the plans began... its taken a while but its worth it!

And talk about double standards if you ARE in one of those newer houses in the bits subdivided at the end near the park... just because YOU could, you were happy to build/buy in front of or near other houses and the park, and make us all put up with your eyesores as we walk down to and enjoy the river - all your new modern houses right up in our face as we play on the park with no attempt at screening yourselves or blending in - but now that something is going in front of YOU that does try to blend in, its apparently some grave injustice. Pot, kettle, black? Just because your house is fancy, doesnt mean it looks compatible and should be there. Dont think the suburb doesnt talk about you! Or if you happen to be in Ford St ... your backyards are what, 100m long, and then theres ugly bitumen and half brown grass forever. The City is keeping the bitumen where it is but making it the nice brown bitumen, softening it with plants, and putting gorgeous picnic parklands in place of the brown oval grass... but apparently its a nightmare on your doorstep?? Be thankful for your blessings and get some community spirit into you please! Instead of being NIMBYs, get in touch with your inner rationalist and actually contribute to making it as nice as it can be :) Or heaven forbid even getting behind it and offering to help brainstorming things, or forming a volunteer beautification group, or helping to plan and organise and fundraise for neighbourhood celebrations in the park!

OK - sorry for the rant and criticism, but to be childish, 'you started it' :) Someone had to say it I think because it was turning into a classic mob mentality, but anyway Ive said my 2 hundred bobs worth on that, so on with my own thoughts.

I think its fantastic for the most part, however I do have some suggestions, and some things that are planned but I think are priorities that shouldnt be lost:

- I'd like to request no built cafe in that proposed south east corner no matter what... the visual 'arrival point' and change from heritage suburbia into parkland at the end of First Ave should be natural and welcoming (not like those houses have already messed up) with native landscaping and a nice low art sculptured entry statement (heritage themed) with the name of the park and playground. Any food and drink sales should be down near the river or entrance to get the most income to pay for maintenance and security, even if these are permanently mobile vendors you take commission from because of the flood plain issues. And not that Im that sypathetic to them, it would also keep the quieter areas closer to the residents as a cafe would have the most noise and be bringing the people over towards it.

- The brown bitumen you said that you are proposing is a must. Keep everything the highest standard and dont skimp on anything. Id rather it evolve over many years with high quality as it can be afforded, rather than 'as much bang for your buck'. But having said that we are happy to wait -ideally it would high quality and timely, so please put some dollars behind this project so it gets cracking!

- Same with the paths. Dont do anything silly like grey concrete that glares in the sun... nice natural looking material everywhere.

- Involve residents (including locals) in considering the look of artwork and the entry bit and even selecting the winning designs maybe.

- The CCTV you talked about to us at the shops is a must and the sooner the better. The increased use of the park will help with security, but things like CCTV help deter people who shouldnt be there from even bothering.

- Include things for adults and seniors. My own parents and grandparents have largely been catered for as their greatest enjoyment always comes from watching the kids having fun! But they will also like to visit with friends and both relax and do activities so heritage gardens, chess boards on picnic tables or any other things for them would be welcome, and for adults like us how about some rope swing couple-seats, a petanque area and canoe hire over at the launch area perhaps.

- It says in the information you gave us that the maintenance yard wont be needed. Rather than keep the fence line where it is and put that area inside the fence, realign the fence that extra bit further away from the houses to keep kids a little further away from their houses if its that important to them and have a bit wider planting area on the eastern side.

Congratulations on the concept and in my opinion contrary to what my neighbours above say, for taking the needs of them into good consideration in desiging the arrangment of the areas... the cafe location was the only big error in my opinion, and less to do with being near residents, but in order to have a nice wide landscaped area at the point of arrival at the beautiful Swan River and parklands. But the rest of it is very insightful, keeping the carpark where the bitumen is already and not making it much bigger and making it nicer looking, lots of green space close on the housing side, CCTV.

- Do your best with traffic management. Its not going to be overboard I dont think as around here already copes with peak times for highschool dropoffs and pickups, whereas this will be an irregular flow and more on weekends, but do your best to look at how it can be best dealt with. In the original report it suggested the CAT bus extend down there, and I think this should definitely be in place for when the park gets up and running.

Sorry this was so long, but reading all this really got me thinking how important it is to speak up, so hopefully others do the same.

Thanks most of all for putting all of the shire resident interests in the frame alongside us locals - certainly continue to tinker and make it as neighbour friendly as possible, but not at the expense of your overall design and intent as it will be cherished for enhancing family's and children's happiness for years to come.

I think the playground is looking like it will be a fantastic area for a huge range of ages. My 6 year old son thought it looked really exciting and my 16 year old daughter who is studying child care was amazed by the vast range of activities proposed. We also thought a cafe would be a great idea and generate a lot of visitors.

I wonder if the City has considered the idea of doing a deal to exchange the land they own at Woodbridge Riverside Park with the parcel owned by the Education Department. That way, the playground could be moved a short distance due North, Govo could have their oval back and everyone would be happy. Wouldn't that be nice!

I think the concept of the park is a fantastic idea. Midland has needed more recreational park facilities as really the only large park facility is Whiteman Park and space here is not always available or vying for shady spots etc. I also think that this park is in a good location as it can utilised by train for people who do not have vehicular access.

Not sure if its too late, but you cannot forget the larger planning involved in maintaining connections along the length of our rivers here in perth - i'm talking using public land and creating walktrails, cycle links and opportunities for exercise, i would rather this be done sooner than later, there is a great potential to link across the river (seen on other plans) and longways-towards upper swan, downstream to guildford and beyond. a lot of people don't know this but it is already public land, lets use it rather than leaving it for a prrecious few as private backyards.