By Geoff Vivian | posted on September 7, 2017
THE revitalisation of Middleton Beach received another boost last week with Planning and Lands minister Rita Saffioti announcing $3.6 million in funding ahead of the State Budget.
Ms Saffioti said the money would be used to upgrade the electricity system and to build a seawall to prevent coastal erosion undermining new buildings and streets.
“It’s part of the Coastal Planning Framework the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) has developed,” she said.
“The Coastal Planning Framework is about rising sea levels, but also the freak storms and the impact that would have on new developments that are close to the ocean.”
Landcorp is creating a new subdivision with a luxury high-rise hotel and an “activity centre” containing shops, apartments and possibly offices, and now needs to find investors to develop the blocks.
Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington said the developments would boost Albany’s economy.
“It’ll be jobs for young people, people that want to come down here and study at the university will have jobs in the tourism industry,” he said.
“It is a big step forward and a great announcement and a great time for Albany.”
Mr Wellington said this announcement would help meet the subdivision requirements that would allow the creation of land titles, and Landcorp expects to be able to call for expressions of interest from developers around November.
Ms Saffioti said the $3.6 million she announced would not be enough to construct a longer wall to protect more of the shoreline.
“I think there was an expectation (the Federal Government) might have been offering some money in recent weeks but that didn’t happen,” she said.
“We’re going to approach the Federal Government again and say ‘can you move on this very quickly?’”
“But we’re not going to sit around and wait for them to commit funds, we’re keen to move forward as soon as possible.”
Ms Saffioti said the seawall would ensure the subdivision complied with a coastal development policy the Barnett Liberal government adopted in 2010.
“There’s quite a strict policy about trying to make sure that when we have development near the ocean that we protect that in case of storm surges and inundation,” she said.
“It means that we have to invest more in trying to prevent any incidents in the future.”
