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Fremantle at crossroads says mayor

Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt

Fremantle can no longer rely on the port or hospital for jobs and must avoid the pitfalls that resulted in missing out on WA's recent boom, mayor Brad Pettitt says.

A boom in commercial investment has Fremantle facing its biggest transformation since the America's Cup but "hard decisions" are needed to do it right.

Dr Pettitt's comments came as businessman Adrian Fini, arguably best known in Fremantle for co-founding Little Creatures brewery, was tapped to head a steering committee that will consider how the port city's economy, lifestyle and prosperity can be improved.

Launched yesterday, the research will be done by the Committee for Perth in collaboration with the University of WA, the University of Notre Dame, the City of Fremantle, and Fremantle Ports, among others.

Asked if Fremantle could have done with such a project years ago, Dr Pettitt was philosophical.

"In some ways it would have been great five to 10 years ago because I always lament in some ways that Fremantle missed the boom," he said.

"But that said, now's actually also the perfect time: Fremantle is about to undergo, I think, some of the biggest transformations it has had since the America's Cup and having this evidence-based research and this collaborative approach is very, very timely to make sure we get it right.

"We can't rely obviously on the port and the hospital in the way we have in the past. This is why we need to be actually focusing on the future going forward.

"There was a huge amount of investment in greater Perth in the 2000s and not much of that flowed into Fremantle.

"Part of that was our planning scheme simply didn't allow it so we've made some big changes in that regard in the last few years so we actually now can."

As well as comparing Fremantle with Perth, the research will look to other port cities in Australia and internationally, such as Newcastle in NSW and Leith in Edinburgh, to see what they have done well and badly.