An exciting start to 2021

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you feel recharged after a well-earned festive break and ready for a fantastic year in 2021. 

Earlier this month, Premier Mark McGowan visited the City to talk about $250 million worth of infrastructure projects either underway or planned for Stirling. Amongst the projects is a $90 million upgrade of the Stirling Bus Interchange. Jointly funded by the State and Federal governments, the project will expand the existing 18-stand facility to a 30-stand bus interchange and deliver a new pedestrian access bridge between Stirling Station and the southern car park. It is anticipated the works will be completed in 2023. 

The State Government has completed a new northbound lane on the Mitchell Freeway – between Cedric and Hutton streets – that now offers better access to the Stirling commercial hub. Along with reducing travel times, the improvement supports a key project for the City, the Stirling City Centre. Set to become Perth’s second CBD, the Stirling City Centre would ultimately cater for 30,000 residents and provide 25,000 jobs.

With Premier Mark McGowan, Transport Minister Rita Saffioti and Member for Balcatta David Michael

Another big project set to contribute to the Stirling City Centre is the Stephenson Avenue Extension. Now under construction, it will extend Stephenson Avenue from Scarborough Beach Road through to Cedric Street and will include a new freeway interchange.

Work going ahead on the Stephenson Avenue Extension project

Local BMX riders and skaters can now test out some brilliant new facilities with the final stages of the Bina Parkland at Princess Wallington Reserve in Balga now open. The $6.2 million parkland project features a 70m junior pump track and 120m advanced BMX track as well as a skate plaza. Other new features include a parkour area, sports multi-courts and barbecue areas. Lotterywest kindly contributed $2.34 million to the project via community sponsorship.

A look at the Bina Parkland skate facility

The stunning parkland project has taken shape with a lot of input from the local community including the Wadjak Northside Elders Group. The name Bina – meaning ‘light of the morning’ – was put forward by students from Warriapendi Primary School and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

Balga Ward Crs David Boothman JP and Keith Sargent in front of the Bina Parkland BMX tracks

Along with impressive skate and BMX facilities, the parkland is also home to a regional playground with a flying fox, swings, learning circle, climbing frame and more. So, if you’re looking for something fun to do with the family this weekend, add the new Bina parkland to your must-visit list.

With all the scorching hot days we have had lately, backyard pools are the place to be, but are your pool safety gates compliant? All private swimming pools containing water more than 300mm deep must have a compliant barrier installed that restricts access by young children and feature gates with an automatic closing device.

According to Royal Life Saving Australia, close to 30 people drowned in Australian swimming pools during 2019/20, so it’s a must that the more than 11,000 private swimming pools across the City comply with safety regulations. For more information about pool safety and pool inspections, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Thanks to the generosity of the community, our most recent Charity Clothing Drop Off Day held last month resulted in more than 20 tonnes of items being donated to local charities. As well as supporting Good Samaritan Industries, Vinnies, ParaQuad Industries, RSPCA and Australian Red Cross, the drop-off days help us reduce landfill.

Cr Karlo Perkov at the recent Charity Clothing Drop Off Day

Hamersley Ward Cr Karlo Perkov was kept extremely busy at the recent event helping unload donations from more than 850 cars. Across a series of Charity Clothing Drop-off Day held since 2016, we have been able to collect more than 140 tonnes of donated goods. We plan to host another Charity Clothing Drop Off Day later this year.

Getting behind local businesses is an easy way to help our community thrive and boost the local economy. As small business accounts for 98 per cent of the 22,000 businesses operating in the City of Stirling, there are thousands of opportunities to support small local enterprises.

The Support Local campaign is underway to encourage everyone across the community to share their support of local businesses on social media and add the hashtag #supportlocal to posts. It could be hiring a local tradie, enjoying a meal at your favourite café or just buying a coffee on the run, there are so many local businesses out there that could benefit from a bit of extra promotion. 

If you have a small local business and want to learn about the range of services that the City offers, please visit our Support for businesses webpage.