The Geraldton Greenough Council has ordered city rangers not to enforce a controversial law banning vehicle access at a popular beach, until further public consultation.
The local by-law, introduced nine years ago, prohibits vehicles on Pages Beach, but rangers often turned a blind eye to recreational fishermen launching their boats.
That was until earlier this year, when the rangers signalled their intention to begin enforcing the law.
At its meeting last night, the council formally received a petition with 521 signatures, calling for the ban to be overturned.
The council voted to defer a decision on the matter, ahead of further public consultation.
Geraldton Greenough Mayor Ian Carpenter says council will consider all submissions during the public consultation phase.
“Obviously if there’s 500 people there who felt that access to that beach should be allowed then we would think about that, but now that we have this deferral and we’ve made it clear there will be no prosecutions in that area, that gives us some more breathing space and a bit of time to consider all of the submissions,” he said.
Comment sought on Dardanup expansion plans
The Western Australian Planning Commission is calling for public comment on plans to expand the Dardanup townsite.
The commission wants to convert more than 100 hectares of rural land to expand the town’s residential area.
Dardanup has a population of about 400 but that figure is expected to grow to 2,000 by 2031.
The public can inspect the plans at the Department of Planning in Bunbury and at council offices in Bunbury, Harvey, Dardanup and Capel.
Submissions close on April 21.