By Ashleigh Fielding | posted on November 29, 2019
THE Albany community will retain unrestricted use of Yakamia’s Worra Park after a recent survey of residents found the park was valued and well used.
The City of Albany undertook consultation about the park to understand how it is used and to inform decisions about its future, including possible use by Bethel Christian School (BCS) as playing fields during school hours.
Executive Director for Infrastructure, Development and Environment Paul Camins said the feedback showed Worra Park was a much-loved community space, with half of the responses not supporting it being used exclusively by the school.
“It’s a really good result for us as we now know more about what the community like about the park, how they enjoy it and want to see it used, and that will help us manage it better into the future,” he said.
“The feedback shows that Worra Park is highly valued for its remnant bushland and birdlife, its quiet location and as a place to go for a walk with the dog.
“Because of this, the City and Bethel Christian School have agreed not to progress any agreement for the school to exclusively use the park during school hours.”
From the 62 responses, 16 said they used the park daily and another 14 used it weekly, while only eight stated they never used the park.
Manager for City Reserves Jacqui Freeman said the community’s responses would help future planning to enhance the park and provide other features such as seating.
“It’s really great to learn that our public spaces are so well loved and well used. This makes the effort and costs of maintaining the park worthwhile and should translate into some really good outcomes,” she said.
“We’re very keen to work with the local community and the school to undertake some bush care work around the park’s bushland and will be contacting the survey respondents and others for help and to invite them to learn new skills.”
In September, Yakamia residents received a letter and a survey from BCS Principal Mim Butler to canvas the opinions of residents about the park.
“BCS is growing and we are exploring ways to enhance facilities which benefit our students, and which also benefit the community,” she said in the letter.
