The last stage of Dalyellup’s housing development by Satterley will be decided by the Shire of Capel despite community opposition to the project.
The proposal would see 22 hectares of land cleared in Greenpatch, off Maidment Parade to make way for 173 residential lots.
The Save Dalyellup Tuart Bushland group member Peter Ashton said they were concerned about the potential health and environmental impacts as Greenpatch was adjacent to Cristal Global’s waste site.
“We are deeply worried about the future, undetermined health impacts of developing land immediately adjacent and downhill from an unlined, leaking, toxic waste dump, gazetted as a contaminated site,” he said.
“It seems absurd that anyone, let alone our local council, would expose people to such a health risk.”
Cristal Global finished using the site in 2013 and has been rehabilitating the land ever since. A Cristal Global spokesperson said the rehabilitation included environmental monitoring as well providing a yearly report to the Shire of Capel.
“The site has recently been reclassified as ‘remediated for restricted use’. Cristal will oversee the rehabilitation of the site back to native vegetation,” the spokesperson said.
The Satterley proposal went to the Shire of Capel late last year and there was a petition with more than 700 signatures opposing the development. There was community consultation including one on one sessions with community members in January.
Shire of Capel chief executive officer Paul Sheedy said the sessions reinforced residents’ concerns which they had submitted as part of the consultation process.
The Save Dalyellup Tuart Bushland group presented at the shire’s last meeting in March with another petition with nearly 1400 signatures.
“We have provided each councillor our 26-page submission on the proposal based on extensive research and consultation by many community members,” Mr Ashton said.
“Nothing we have found suggests this development should be sanctioned by council. We trust our elected councillors will support their community’s wishes.”
Resident Phil Harbour said it was a multi-generational health risk and the state government had an obligation to stop the development from going ahead.
Department of Communities assistant director general commercial operations Greg Cash said RPS Australia Asia Pacific did a preliminary site contamination investigation along with soil and groundwater sampling on the Greenpatch site in 2016.
He said the assessment was done in accordance with department of Environmental Regulations Assessment’s procedures.
“The investigation found the Greenpatch site is suitable for housing,” he said.
The Shire of Capel council will vote on the proposal on April 26.
Jemillah Dawson
I started as a journalist in 2011 and now manage mastheads in the South West of WA. My passion is politics and sport. I believe we are the voice for the community but also we inform the community of what they need to know. Email jemillah.dawson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
I started as a journalist in 2011 and now manage mastheads in the South West of WA. My passion is politics and sport. I believe we are the voice for the community but also we inform the community of what they need to know. Email jemillah.dawson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
