Fremantle council has made a terrible blunder

Michael Willicombe wrote an interesting article in the Fremantle Herald this week. Michael, a former heritage planner with the council, says he fears Fremantle council has made a terrible blunder chasing the highest dollars at Fremantle Markets.

In part, he wrote: Either the council received bad legal advice when setting the lease up, had no clue what it was doing or it simply didn’t care.

What council seems to have failed to consider in its deliberations is the value of the character of the stalls existing in the markets.

I suspect that others, like me, don’t really care about getting ‘best ratepayer dollar value for the lease’ if it kills off local product and interesting stalls in the process. And for business in Fremantle generally, if the markets become as dull as other Perth markets that will hurt Fremantle across the board.

Better to care about enabling the long-running and existing diversity of stalls to survive rather than cast aside for cheap and cheerful, yet more profitable stalls. ‘Made in China’ will be an increasing sight in the markets I fear, maybe a stall in its own right!

It’s a crying shame and a black mark on the council. Let’s hope it serves to give the council pause for thought when reviewing other iconic property holdings such as Moore’s building and Gino’s, Dome and Kulcha.

Council’s job is to retain and enhance the character appeal of Fremantle as a whole and it is through its own property holding that it has the biggest responsibility to do this.