FAQs

Every year the City of Fremantle follows a rolling capital works schedule to upgrade facilities in parks, reserves and public open spaces.

The Projects & Place Team has received capital works funding in the 2026/27 budget to begin a process of community engagement and fact finding to assess existing conditions at Mills & Wares Park. This information will help the team create a design concept and schedule of works and upgrades that may occur in the park, subject to community feedback, budget and Council approval.

All suggested park upgrades identified in the community consultation process such as furniture refurbishments, pathways, shelters, accessibility, play features, shade coverings, structural/heritage works and lighting will be logged and considered as future upgrades to the park and will be captured in an engagement report that will be shared with the public via the project's MySay page. Make sure to subscribe to stay up to date with project updates as they are shared.

The City of Fremantle is committed to seeking community and stakeholder input to ensure any changes, upgrades or additions to Mills & Wares Park meet the needs of the local community. City officers will be gathering community input from the MySay survey, park drop-in session and any written and online submissions that are received. 

We're asking the community to help us understand their priorities and values when it comes to the park - how they use it, what they would like to see preserved, enhanced or added in the future. Possible opportunities or additions could include low-key intergenerational play elements, accessibility enhancements, refreshed historical interpretation and/or maintenance, enhancement or removal of the existing industrial heritage structures.

Once public consultation has ended and feedback is compiled, insights from the community will be collated to help refine and distil any key maintenance, play equipment, accessibility enhancements or other additions that could be included in future works for the park. 

These future works, once confirmed, will be communicated to the public and a construction schedule will be shared.

There is a fixed budget allocation of $XXX included in the 2027 financial year.

The budget must cover all works associated with the finalised design and concept plan, including installation of new playground elements and/or accessibility upgrades, temporary fencing, softfall sand cleaning or ground coverings (such as mulch), audit and any other key works identified in the consultation process.

Each park is classified as either local, neighbourhood, district or regional based on the park’s size. The type of facilities provided in each park depends on its classification. For more information, you can read about Public Open Space Classifications in the City’s Public Open Space Strategy 2024 – 2034 by clicking here.

Requests for additional or new facilities are investigated and budgeted as capital projects. They are assessed in relation to the park’s classification, the Public Open Space Strategy and Asset Management Strategy. Requests are prioritised against maintenance and renewal requirements for existing facilities and budget availability. Requests for park upgrades can be sent to info@fremantle.wa.gov.au

Due to the cost of rubber softfall and the maintenance cost for repairs and replacement, the City limits the use of rubber softfall. The use of rubber softfall is occasionally implemented when considering universal access to specific play elements. 

CoF is a One Planet Council and a Gold Waterwise Council, we need to consider the amount of water that gets used with water play elements. While it can be recycled for re-use, this is costly due to the infrastructure required for pumps, filters and underground infrastructure to ensure the water is safe enough to be re-used. Waterplay infrastructure also adds additional ongoing maintenance, which is outside the scope of this project.