Developer starts petition to back Perth Wave Park while looking at Adelaide location

With its plans to develop a wave park on the banks of Perth's Swan River halted by a Western Australian Government decision to reject its use of Crown land, developer URBNSURF has launched a petition seeking public support to overturn the decision.

URBNSURF founder and Director Andrew Ross and the Perth Surf Park Supporters have created the ‘Support the Wave Park for Perth’ petition at the change.org website

It states “this petition has been created to show the Western Australian State Government that there is great support for the proposed Wave Park project to be located at Alfred Cove in the City of Melville. The WA Government has released a media statement from Ben Wyatt, Minister for Lands, stating that ‘without local support it is impossible to justify locking future generations out of the space which was designated for public recreation and constant use’. We disagree that creating a world class surfing facility is locking any generation out of the space, in fact it would be increasing the recreational use of the site!

"Please sign this online petition to demonstrate that there is mass support for this project both in Perth and across the State!"

Meanwhile, Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser has advised that URNSURF is also looking to create a surf park in South Australia.

The Advertiser reports that “URBNSURF, whose Melbourne surfing pool just is weeks away from operation, plans to build 10 surf parks across Australia within the next 10 years. Construction on a Sydney park will commence in 2020 and a Perth park is currently at the development approval stage.”

The Advertiser advised that “Ross said his company had been scouting locations in Adelaide for more than two years, and he believed a suitable parcel of land had been found.”

It advised that Ross said two factors - a shortage of water and the high price of power - made Adelaide a trickier location than the others.

Ross told The Advertiser “we’ve actually been looking for sites in Adelaide for the past two-and-a-half years.

“We have a site we think would be ideal that we’ve been pursuing - there are just a couple of structural issues with that site. We’re incredibly excited about South Australia, and Adelaide in particular, being a place for a surf park. It’s just a case of making sure that those structural elements are resolved sufficiently.”

URBNSURF has the Australian rights to Wavegarden technology, which is capable of producing up to 1000 waves an hour.

Ross added “electric motors are attached to pistons in the water and they move left and right under a pier structure.

“When they move left they push a wave out on the left of the lagoon, and when they move right they push a wave out on the right. The great thing about this modular technology is that it’s very high frequency, so you get a large number of waves, and it’s very reliable.”

Andrew Ross is a speaker at the upcoming Australian Amusement, Leisure and Recreation Association (AALARA) conference being held at The Star on the Gold Coast from 20th to 22nd May.

Click here to view the Perth Surf Park petition.

Click here for more information on the AALARA 2019 Conference and Trade Show in the Australasian Leisure Management industry Calendar. 

Images show prototype Wavegarden technology in use in northern Spain.