Perth, Western Australia April 03, 2004 Home News Down South Impressions This Week ArtDates Theatre Cinema Restaurants Books Music Letters Classifieds Search Submit Real Estate Trades & Services Online Archives Edition List Search AboutUs Contact Us About Us Legal Production Rate Card Readership &  Distribution Subscribe	Rowell's vision for Cott excludes Centro 'slum' Subi Centro could become a slum, Cottesloe mayor Rob Rowell says. He made a surprise attack on the boom development, which has raised record prices for land and housing in Subiaco, at last week's annual general meeting of SOS Cottesloe, the ratepayers and residents' group. Mr Rowell told about 70 people it was important for Cottesloe council to have a say and be involved early with state government plans for housing along the railway reserve in Cottesloe. "I feel Subi Centro could easily become a slum in 10 years," he said. "Those tilt-up concrete panels will require painting, and it will be interesting to see who is ready to pay for that. "I'd hate to see in Cottesloe one and two-bedroom apartments - what used to be called flats. "They seem fine, but they're not comfortable buildings to go home to. "In time, that could cause problems. "We need a Cottesloe style of living. Mediterranean style." Mr Rowell said he was a member of several government committees and it worried him to realise that bureaucrats often considered they, not local councils, were in charge of town planning. "You realise very quickly that they think they are running planning in the metropolitan area, not local government," he said." He was particularly concerned about "affordable housing". "I've got a feeling that 'affordable housing' doesn't always stay 'affordable'," Mr Rowell said. "I worry that some officials seem to see it as some kind of social experiment. "I live on Claremont Hill, near the Homeswest accommodation on Stirling Highway, and if you talk with the people who live there they have some difficulties with transport and shopping. "It is important they don't feel like fish out of water. "It is understandable that higher-density housing should be near railways, but 'affordable' is not necessarily good housing." BACK TO TOP < PREVIOUS - HOME - NEXT> Copyright © 1999 - 2006 Post Newspapers Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.