Applecross residents’ two-year campaign ended in a planning change, not a confirmed road project being cancelled: on 5 February 2025, the Western Australian Government announced a reduced Planning Control Area (PCA) 185 that removes Sleat Road, Forbes Road and Kintail Road from its footprint and excludes mature verge trees previously at risk. The change addresses potential future widening near Canning Highway; it is not a permanent ban on road works or a guarantee that every tree in Applecross is protected.
What was the dispute about?
The concern was that planning controls could leave room for future road widening affecting roadside trees on Sleat, Forbes and Kintail roads in Applecross. In March 2023, PerthNow reported that residents and Bateman MLA Kim Giddens were campaigning against that possibility. The report described a potential impact, not an approved tree-removal order or a confirmed widening project. PerthNow’s March 2023 report said the Planning Control Area had been approved in August 2020 following recommendations in the Canning Bridge Activity Centre Plan.
The “two-year” description refers to the period from the public campaign in March 2023 to the State’s announcement in February 2025. It does not mean a two-year legal proceeding: the available reporting describes community advocacy and a planning-area revision.
How did residents campaign?
Residents petitioned and made representations to planning ministers, with Kim Giddens helping take the issue to government. In 2023, Giddens told PerthNow she had gathered more than 600 signatures in less than 24 hours and that the total was approaching 1,000. PerthNow reported more than 1,000 signatures in February 2025. These are figures reported by the outlet; the reporting does not provide an independently audited petition count.
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Giddens’ campaign page says that in July 2024, then Planning Minister John Carey told her neither the Public Transport Authority nor Main Roads WA required works, including tree removal, on the three roads, and that the department had begun amending PCA 153. That is Giddens’ account of correspondence, rather than the later government announcement itself. Her campaign page records that part of the timeline.
What changed in February 2025?
In its 5 February 2025 announcement, the Western Australian Government said revised PCA 185 excludes private land and mature verge trees previously at risk, and removes Sleat Road, Forbes Road and Kintail Road from the planning-control footprint. The State presented the revision as a balance between long-term infrastructure planning and protecting existing canopy.
| Planning scope | What the sources establish |
|---|---|
| Earlier concern | The 2023 report described potential future widening that could affect roadside trees on the three roads; it did not establish that removal was certain. |
| Revised PCA 185 | The State says the named roads, private land and mature verge trees previously at risk are excluded from the revised footprint. |
| What remains unresolved | The available sources do not provide a tree-by-tree inventory, exact number of trees saved, or a guarantee of permanent protection. |
Carey said the revised area would provide “certainty for the local community” and ensure mature trees were retained along key transport corridors. Giddens called the result a consequence of listening to the community and said it protected Applecross’s valued canopy and character. These are statements accompanying the government announcement, not a separate arboricultural assessment.
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How long does the planning change last?
The government announcement gives PCA 185 a five-year term upon gazettal. PerthNow reported in February 2025 that the term was expected to expire in 2030 and quoted local advocate Rhonda Kerr saying she would remain vigilant at expiry. The year 2030 was the contemporaneously reported expectation; the sources cited here do not independently verify an exact gazettal date or expiry calculation. The five-year term also means this outcome should not be described as permanent protection.
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What the campaign did—and did not—achieve
The practical result was a smaller planning-control area that no longer includes the three roads or the mature verge trees the State identified as previously at risk. It does not establish that a road-widening project had been approved and then stopped, nor that every tree in the area has been individually assessed or secured indefinitely. The available reports also do not establish an exact count or condition of the affected trees, or later changes to the planning instrument.
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For residents, the story is a concrete example of local advocacy influencing the scope of a planning control: a petition and representations coincided with a revision that removed the named streets from the PCA footprint. The remaining question is how the time-limited planning area is handled when its term ends.
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