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Fremantle Park - Management Plan

1. Introduction

Fremantle Park is bordered by Ellen, Ord and Parry Streets and is close to the City centre of Fremantle. It has a long history of occupation by various sporting codes including tennis, lawn bowls, cricket, soccer and football.

Two areas in the south west corner of the park are leased to the Fremantle Lawn Tennis Club and the Fremantle Bowling Club; both occupants at the site since 1896. The balance of the area is used regularly for a number of field sports on a seasonal hire basis. Christian Brothers College (CBC) Fremantle use the park all year round for its sporting curricula activities.

Built facilities support the use of the Park as a place for organised sport with club rooms, change and shower facilities, light towers and cricket practice nets. Play equipment is ated near the centre of the Park and there are various tree plantings and landscaping throughout the area. In short, the Park serves a multitude of purposes.

Other community facilities located in close proximity to the Park include the Fremantle Leisure Centre, John Curtin College of Performing Arts and the Fremantle Arts Centre.

The Park is regarded as a district level facility in terms of its place on the Reserve and Facility Classification System (see page 60 of the City of Fremantle Recreation Policy and Strategy). Fremantle Park can be regarded as a local facility to those residents of Fremantle whose properties are near the park.

Management planning is the process of determining the management direction that the community and the City of Fremantle would like applied to Fremantle Park. The planning process involves identification of issues, formulation of goals, objectives and policies, consultation on these goals, objectives and policies, and review of the resulting plan.

Specifically, the management plan will include policies and objectives in the following areas:

• Use of sports field for sporting purposes
• Use of area for non-sporting purposes
• Provision of sports related infrastructure
• Buildings
• Maintenance of playing surfaces
• Fencing
• Leases
• Signage
• Playground development
• Landscape
• Car Parking
• Review

The management objectives for Fremantle Park could be:

1. Provision of optimum playing surfaces and associated facilities for organised sports at Fremantle Park.

3.2 Optimise use of available open space on Fremantle Park for the active and passive recreation needs of the broader community.

3.3 Preservation of Fremantle Park as public open space and improvement of its contribution to the City’s landscape.

To prepare a Management Plan incorporating a concept plan and broad costs that respond to identified problems and issues arising from the use of Fremantle Park by the community.

The study area is Fremantle Park, a 6.4445ha block of land close to the Fremantle City centre. The Park is a Class ‘C’ reserve vested for the purpose of Park, Recreation and Community Centre. The City has the power to lease the area.

The Park’s legal description is Fremantle Lot 1826 being part of the land in Certificate of Title Volume 349 folio 88A, being a Crown Grant in Trust (Reserve 24833).

There is a portion of closed road (Barnett Street) that is grassed and planted and is managed as part of the reserve.

The preparation of the management plan will also acknowledge the Park’s historical and cultural links with adjacent land and land uses and the proximity to Fremantle Leisure Centre and other nearby community facilities and residential properties.

• Advertise intention to proceed with management plan for Fremantle Park and invite feedback from interested groups and individuals
• Prepare background information on historical and cultural significance
• Prepare background information on Park flora
• Prepare user information over past 3 years from Booking System
• Establish type and extent of users not associated with Booking System
• Prepare map of Fremantle Park showing park layout and surrounding features
• Consult with sports clubs, individuals and groups in order to identify the range and type of issues at Fremantle Park
• Identify necessary improvements on site eg, parking, facilities, landscaping, access, etc
• Prepare a concept plan based on the outcomes of the consultation and background research
• Present all findings and options in the form of a written report

End July Brief confirmed

July-September Research/Consultation

October Draft report preparation

October Design preparation

End November Final Report

In no particular order they include:

• Poor car parking and pedestrian access
• Demand for more clubroom type buildings
• Inadequate security for pedestrians
• Over use of ground for organised sports
• Poor layout of the Park and space limitations
• Safety of pedestrians accessing the Park
• Location of the present clubrooms in the middle of the Park
• Poor integration of lessee facilities with the rest of the Park’s users and built facilities
• Integration of district level sporting club needs and local/neighbournood community needs
• Poor integration between the Park and Fremantle Leisure Centre
• Managing the sports fields to accommodate the different needs of sporting activity and use for general recreation
• User group/community comment will be sought on additional issues

The Plan will be completed using in-house resources

9. Output

The output will be a 5 year management plan. ( draft table of contents for the document is included below.) The document will define objectives for park management and use, address the issues identified in 7. Above and present management solutions and implementation strategies. The plan will incorporate a concept design for the future enhancement of the park, including landscaping.