Battle lines drawn over Point Peron future
Battle lines are being drawn over the future of a slice of land by the Rockingham coast, with opponents to a planned marina development vowing to fight each stage of the approvals process.
The Hands of Point Peron Group will tonight reveal what it says is a better environmental and economic alternative to LandCorp and Cedar Woods Property Group’s plan for up to 500 boat pens, chalet-style accommodation and an entertainment precinct at the southern end of Cockburn Sound.
The alternative plan envisages a recreational, tourist and conservation coastal park with a focus on walk and cycle paths, snorkeling and diving trails and nature-based tourism.
But Cedar Woods said there was considerable misunderstanding around its plan, which would see the point of Cape Peron preserved as a natural community park.
Hands Off Point Person spokesman George Burns said the intention was to create a park that anyone could use, that would bring tourists into the area and keep them there for longer and that would be economically viable.
“We’d like to see it as a nature-based park for the people of Western Australia and a park that includes active and passive recreational facilities so people can walk and cycle and snorkel and dive and kayak and sit on the beach or lay in the park or have a barbecue or things like that,” he said.
“The second aspect of it is that we’d like to see a tourist-attracting coastal park. It could be a unique feature that would have people lingering longer in the area. Usually they come to Penguin Island for a couple of hours and then leave.
“Tourism research shows that the majority of people in Western Australia come for unspoiled nature views, they don’t come to visit another canal development.
“The third part that we would like to see preserved is a good part of it as a conservation area.”
The Mangles Bay plan has received State and Federal environmental approvals, with attached conditions the proponents have described as “stringent”. It still requires a handful of planning approvals and Mr Burns said the group would continue to fight.
“I think we need to be loud,” he said. “Just talking with people down there by far most do not want it to happen and we need to (let our) elected representatives know that the majority of people don’t want it.”
Cedar Woods managing director Paul Sadleir said there was a “great deal of misinformation” about the location of the proposed project, east of the Garden Island Causeway. He said the footprint of the proposed marina would extend along the coast to Safety Bay Road and south to Memorial Drive.
“Separate to the development area itself, our proposal includes remediation and rehabilitation of the point of Cape Peron to preserve it as a natural community park,” he said.
“We have a number of strategies in place to minimise and avoid impacts to the surrounding environment and to fulfill the strict environmental conditions required."
He said the project partners were aware of an alternative vision for a coastal park within Cape Peron and welcomed an opportunity to “work in partnership with the proponents to include some of these elements from the alternative vision.”
