A large new wading pool under shade for young families to cool off during Toodyay’s hot dry summer months.

 

Four new multi-purpose basketball and netball courts with pavilion and changeroooms behind.

Pavilion view of four new multi-purpose basketball and netball courts.

Builders check plans inside spacious new community pavilion and changerooms.

Anyone for tennis? There’ll be plenty of room for everyone on Toodyay’s four new synthetic courts.

Chamber committee member Bob Schrader said the remaining funds would be used to promote the chamber’s Toodyay Dollars campaign to encourage more people to buy locally in the shire.

The chamber’s Facebook video was launched on August 22 and reached nearly 10,000 people in the first three days.

It was shared 100 times, including by the WA Regional Chamber of Commerce, which encouraged its 7500 members to share the Toodyay video with thousands more online viewers across the state.

The video is also being promoted on Facebook by Targa West, which has 13,500 online subscribers and is running its annual car rally through Toodyay on Saturday October 24.

Mr Schrader said the new campaign is aimed at people who live within a 75km radius of Perth’s central business district.

“We aim to encourage more people from the greater metropolitan area to take a one-hour trip to experience Toodyay,” he said.

The September promotion is being run alongside the chamber’s Toodyay Dollars campaign which was launched in 2018 and has attracted more than $10,000 in sales for the chamber’s 50 local business partners.

Toodyay Dollars can be bought – dollar for dollar – across the counter at the town’s Bendigo Bank in Stirling Terrace for use as gifts and prizes to be spent at local shops and businesses throughout the shire.

Traders can return spent Toodyay Dollars to the bank for the amount to be credited back to their accounts.

Toodyay Dollars are available as $10, $20 and $50 notes but can’t be exchanged at shops for cash.

New participants wanting to join the Toodyay ‘buy local’ scheme can do so free of charge simply by joining the chamber.

Mr Schrader said the program is being managed by local bank manager and chamber treasurer Kirsten Barrack and is separate to normal banking business.

He said Toodyay business activity had “certainly picked up” since the end of the pandemic lockdown in July, as shown by the increased numbers of weekend visitors spending their money in local shops and at other tourism outlets.

The Appian Way walkway links Toodyay’s historic 1903 Mercy Convent to the town’s St John the Baptist Catholic Church and straddles two new land titles created to separate the buildings.

The Archdiocese sought partial demolition of the walkway to enable it to sell the run-down convent for private commercial redevelopment.

The plan also demolishes part of an adjacent Garden of Peace which was built to commemorate deceased parishioners.

Last month’s council decision sets it at odds with the Perth Archdiocese which recently axed 100-year-old trees and built new roads to service a new small business estate behind the old convent.

‘No comment’ – Church

A Perth Church spokesman said the Archdiocese had “no comment at this time”.

Councillors were presented last month with two shire recommendations – a deferred July shire recommendation to approve demolition, and a last-minute “alternative” recommendation to reject the plan which was not published online or provided to the public gallery.

Councillors went straight to the alternative recommendation, which was moved by Cr Ben Bell, seconded by former Catholic Precinct activist and newly elected Cr Mick McKeown and carried unanimously (Crs Therese Chitty and Paula Greenway absent).

The decision said the proposed demolition was “inconsistent with the orderly and proper planning of the locality” and inconsistent with shire heritage planning policy.

The decision was a victory for Toodyay Catholic parishioners who formed a Friends of the Catholic Precinct action group after the shire’s surprise 2018 decision to approve the subdivision of a heritage site without public consultation.

Former Shire CEO Stan Scott used his delegated authority to approve the subdivision without referring it to the council or informing parishioners.

It prompted former State MP Larry Graham to present a formal submission alleging collusion and secrecy to the July council meeting.

“In my view, the handling of this entire issue exceeds the threshold required for referral to either or both the CCC (WA Crime and Corruption Commission) or the LG (State Local Government Department),” he told councillors.

New Shire CEO Suzie Haslehurst told The Herald after last month’s council decision that she had started to look at Mr Graham’s allegations and spoken to other shire officers involved.

“I’d be very surprised if anything came out of it,” she said.

“My preliminary findings are that due process was followed – it suggests no evidence of collusion.”

Shire President Rosemary Madacsi said: “I don’t believe any further action is needed.”

Mr Graham responded that “allegations of the type that I raised formally with the council require formal, thorough and competent investigation”.

State misled

Last month’s council decision followed several months of confusion after the shire initially advertised a plan submitted by the Archdiocese to demolish the whole walkway.

It attracted 23 public submissions with 19 against, including objections from the Toodyay Historical Society and several leading local ratepayers.

The State Planning, Lands and Heritage Department said the original subdivision application did not show the walkway.

A senior departmental official said the WA Planning Commission (WAPC) did not know the walkway existed when it approved the subdivision subject to conditions in June 2018.

“The application has not received final approval, however it is understood conditions are in the process of being carried out,” Regional South Land Use Planning Director Cath Meaghan said.

“Had the WAPC known there was a walkway in that location, it would not have made the decision it did because it is not feasible to have shared structures (eg: swimming pools, pergolas, etc.) on separate titles.

“So although the proposed subdivision seeks to separate the church buildings in a land titles sense, the shire’s planning intent is for the precinct to continue to function as a whole.”

Ms Meaghan said that in considering finalisation of the subdivision, the WAPC would be “mindful” of proposed planning arrangements to redevelop the precinct “in a manner that retains the heritage values of the site and allows for continued connection between the buildings”.

The fencing of lots between heritage buildings would “generally not be permitted unless it provides for ongoing pedestrian access” Ms Meaghan said.

“We as a council need to be able to support WALGA,” Cr Rayner said.

“I believe in the last six months or so we have turned dead against WALGA, all their policies, and a lot of their processes and their advice.

“I believe we should have someone that is still willing to negotiate with the policies that WALGA provides and their advice.

“I don’t know whether we as a council are doing that at the moment, so that’s the reason I put my hand up.”

Shire President Rosemary Madacsi said Cr Rayner was entitled to his view but she “certainly wouldn’t support it”.

Cr Bell moved to nominate Cr Rayner, who seconded himself when nobody else raised their hand to support his nomination.

Cr Bell said it made sense for the outgoing shire president to guide and introduce new people to WALGA and other councils.

“As part of any sort of succession planning, you always have a hand-over between incoming and outgoing,” Cr Bell said.

“It seems logical that someone who has been there, has the networks and knows the people takes the incoming president – it’s nothing more complicated than that.”

Cr Rayner said he had attended five WALGA conferences, including two as president and two as a (non-voting) deputy.

“I have a fairly wide network of councillors from all over the state and I would like to still represent Toodyay as a councillor and delegate,” he said.

Cr Ruthven could still go as a deputy but not have a right to vote.

Cr Ruthven objected.

She said the Shire Deputy President should have a right to vote at the conference.

“As far as networks are concerned, I have attended phone meetings and had some contact with WALGA personnel and I think I’m up to the task.”

Cr Susan Pearce said it was important that the shire’s new President and Deputy President “meet, network and share ideas with these people and that they become known in local government through WALGA”.

Cr Bell’s motion was lost 3-4 (Crs Therese Chitty and Paula Greenway absent) with Crs Rayner, Bell and Mick McKeown in favour, and President Madacsi, Deputy President Ruthven and Crs Pearce and Phil Hart against.

The council then voted 5-2 (Crs Rayner and Bell against) for Deputy President Ruthven to join President Madacsi in Perth as the second of Toodyay’s two voting delegates.

Cr Rayner was unopposed when he nominated himself to attend the conference as one of two non-voting deputies.

There were no takers for the second non-voting spot.

“Also, some grain growers don’t see a need to control their dogs because they don’t have sheep.”

Mr Driessen – who featured in a similar Herald Page 1 story in May 2016 – said a stray dog killed a $140 hogget last month in a night attack near his machinery shed.

“Dogs bite them on the hind leg to bring them down and eat them alive.”

“Others die when they stumble and fall when chased and the dogs tear them apart.”

Mr Driessen said he has lost seven sheep “torn up” by stray dogs in the past three months.

Dogs also killed 47 sheep on his property in a single month three years ago.

“I greatly appreciate the shire rangers’ immediate response but they can’t do much because by the time they get here the dogs have gone,” Mr Driessen said.

“You can’t shoot them because they mostly come at night and can’t be seen.

“I lay 1080 poison baits to control foxes but dogs prefer to kill something that moves.

“Those mongrels frighten the hell out of me – they’re worse than foxes.

“I’d like the shire to increase the penalty for dog attacks.

“I’m also ready to pay half the cost of a saliva test to show which dogs are killing my sheep.”

Mr Driessen has about 1200 merinos and 100 lambs and plans to complain to the shire about his latest losses.