{"id":25849,"date":"2026-06-06T05:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T05:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/25849\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T05:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T05:42:19","slug":"long-awaited-esplanade-park-finally-opens-along-the-mount-pleasant-foreshore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/25849\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-awaited Esplanade Park finally opens along the Mount Pleasant foreshore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">A former senior citizens centre and construction vehicle carpark has been transformed into a new community park along the river foreshore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">The Esplanade Park officially opened in Mt Pleasant last week, connecting Kishorn Road with The Esplanade to create 2000sqm of open space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">The park is part of the Canning Bridge activity precinct and features a concrete footpath, new garden beds and vegetation and a new playground themed around the egret bird for kids to play in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Whadjuk Noongar Elder Nigel Wilkes and Whadjuk Noongar knowledge holders Bella Bropho, Alice Kearing, Melba Bodney and Iva Hayward-Jackson provided cultural input into the park\u2019s design.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Noongar artist Justin Martin also installed artwork along the path, and will soon produce a mural on the fence behind the playground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Melville mayor Katy Mair said the local community needed a new open area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cThe social and environmental benefits of green spaces in urban environments is well researched and documented,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cWe acknowledge that with increasing density in this key Canning Bridge precinct public open space is vital and we hope the local community enjoy this new park.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/50569fc9c546f3f41c9c8d20afd3e03b6b5419c7.jpg\" alt=\"City of Melville Councillors Daniel Lim, Michael McGoldrick, Lotterywest\u2019s Shannon Foster, Mayor Katy Mair and Chief Executive Officer Gail Bowman attended the park opening.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconCity of Melville Councillors Daniel Lim, Michael McGoldrick, Lotterywest\u2019s Shannon Foster, Mayor Katy Mair and Chief Executive Officer Gail Bowman attended the park opening. Credit: City of Melville<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">The decision to create a park on the vacant land was heavily debated by the council in recent years. The land has been earmarked for both lucrative development and a highly desired green space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">A divided council voted in 2023 to turn the land into a public open space with a children\u2019s playground. In 2024, it rejected a $1.7 million concept plan for the design of the park, ignoring the hundreds of petitioners urging council to reconsider.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">A cheaper $991,346 design was presented to the council in November 2024 and approved on the condition the city seek funding through election commitments and relevant grants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Lotterywest backed the project with a $465,582 grant. The State Government also committed $150,000 towards the new park through an election commitment from Bateman MLA Kim Giddens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cProtecting and enhancing our urban tree canopy and local environment is a key priority of mine, which is why I worked closely with local residents and community groups to help deliver this important community space,\u201d Ms Giddens said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former senior citizens centre and construction vehicle carpark has been transformed into a new community park along&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3683,2968,227,1774,13283,152,335,149,4316,464],"class_list":["post-25849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-environment","tag-family-life","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-government","tag-melville","tag-news","tag-perth","tag-politics","tag-south","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}