Environmental watchdog sees no ‘significant’ impacts with Perth surf park plan

Proponents of the URBNSURF surf park development on the foreshore of the Swan River at Perth’s Alfred Cove are free to submit a development application to the City of Melville after the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority advised that the development poses no “significant” environmental impacts to the site at Tompkins Park on the Swan River foreshore.

In the recent handing down of its decision on the proposed wave park, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) said impacts to groundwater, surface water, vegetation and fauna habitat could be “adequately managed” through URBNSURF's management and mitigation measures.

The EPA instead elected not to assess the project, despite a number of submissions calling for a public environmental review.

Developer URBNSURF said the EPA's decision was "vindication" after fending off what founder and Chairman Andrew Ross said were “wild claims” about the $25 million project.

Ross said many of the attractions’s opponents wanted to retain prime public land on the riverfront, and that “many of their points about possible impacts on the Swan River, the site being highly contaminated, and impacts on bird life are now known to be false or misleading.”

Ross advised “wave parks are being embraced by forward-thinking communities around the world, and URBNSURF Perth will complement our Sydney and Melbourne wave parks as a must-visit destination for surfers and non-surfers from all over Australia and internationally.”

However, objectors to the plan are expected to appeal the decision.

Swan Foreshore Protection Association Chairman Clive Ross said the EPA was not holding URBNSURF to enough scrutiny, and had accepted the company’s word that it would address any environmental issues "without explaining how".

Alfred Cove Action Group spokeswoman Margaret Sandford  took issue with the claim the attraction would not create any more disturbance than the Melville Bowling Club and community rugby club currently using the facilities at Tomkins Park.

Sandford said the EPA's decision was "disappointing", given hundreds of submissions had called for a public environmental review, and said an appeal was in the works.

She advised “for some reason the EPA have ignored the majority of submissions.”

The plan for the attraction on the foreshore in Alfred Cove has attracted opposition to small but vocal groups of objectors since it was announced in 2016.

Ratepayers have been vocal in their opposition to the project, which has aired rifts between them and the Melville City Council and chief executive, but allegations of “abuse of process” and a raft of special electors’ meetings have muddied the waters of the debate.

In addition to concerns about the effect on the natural environment of the area, more recent objections have focussed on the sound generated by breaking waves at the attraction.

Wave generating technology will create one thousand waves per hour, 17 per minute, with ‘peak’ zones providing up to 2-metre high, 18-second long steep waves enabling the highest level of performance surfing.

Click here for more information on the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority's consideration of the URBNSURF proposal.

Image: Artist's impression of the URBNSURF wave park on the Swan River in Alfred Cove. Courtesy of URBNSURF.

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