Friends of the Gelorup Corridor members say they have a "slither" of hope left in stopping the construction of the southern section of the Bunbury Outer Ring Road.
The Bunbury Outer Ring Road has been labelled the biggest infrastructure project in the South West and will see a new four-lane highway bypass Bunbury and reconnect to the Bussell Highway near Gelorup.
Construction of the road has already begun in the northern section which starts around Paris Road off the Forrest Highway.
The southern section proposes to split through the semi-rural suburb of Gelorup and clear 71 hectares of land.
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On June 29, a delegate for federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek approved the southern section of the project with conditions to manage impacts to "nationally protected matters".
Since receiving information about the approval the Friends group has written to Ms Plibersek urging her to re-examine the conditions which were part of the approval.
"We believe the proponent is unlikely to meet a number of conditions set out in the approval," a Friends of Gelorup Corridor spokesperson said.
In the letter, the group disputes 13 different conditions that the proponent would need to meet in order for the project to go ahead.
The conditions include:
- mitigating impacts to listed threatened species by not clearing 11 suitable hollows for the black cockatoo,
- not causing a loss in habitat quality outside the clearing zone,
- not cause a reduction in habitat quality for Banksia Woodland, Tuart Woodland within 20 and 60 metres of the project site and any Black Stripe Minnow habitat outside of the proposal area.
A department spokesperson told the Mail there were "a couple of processes" to still take place but the proponent was okay to proceed with the project.
"The Bunbury Outer Ring Road Southern Section project underwent a comprehensive and rigorous assessment process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999," the spokesperson said.
"Thorough consideration was given to the potential for impacts on EPBC Act-listed threatened species and ecological communities and all efforts were made to avoid or minimise these impacts where possible."
The spokesperson said the department received comments from the Friends group during the referral and assessment stages of the project.
"[The comments] were all considered by the minister's delegate when making their decisions," the spokesperson said.
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
