SOME have simply called it growing pains. Others say its bureaucracy typical of local and state governments detached from local businesses and the wider community.
SOME have simply called it growing pains.
Others say its bureaucracy typical of local and state governments detached from local businesses and the wider community.
But several decisions involving road and rail infrastructure in the southern corridor have highlighted the challenges facing fast-growing regions, and local governments unprepared for such growth.
A council decision to make the southern end of Mandurah Terrace one-way traffic in May 2008 has left many disgruntled business owners in its wake with estimates that the traffic treatment measure has cost a small pocket of the tourism precinct more than $10 million in sales a year.
Business owners along the once bustling two-way street told WA Business News the council was ill-prepared for the growth of the city, which lacks critical infrastructure to accommodate the influx of new residents and tourists.
Many understand the need to push traffic off Mandurah Terrace towards Sutton Street to alleviate congestion but say the decision was hastily made.
The 75 per cent reduction in traffic has forced at least four businesses to close and others to consider not renewing leases.
Star Surf general manager Matt Wilson, who has owned the surf store on Mandurah Terrace for 11 years, said businesses have faced up to 80 per cent loss of sales since the road closure, forcing many redundancies of young workers.
“Post-boom, things have slowed down, our tourism numbers haven’t picked up, we’ve now got a new road (Forrest Highway) taking everyone to Busselton, Bunbury, and Margaret River, bypassing Mandurah, and we haven’t got anything directing people into town, hence the furore over the shutdown of the train service during our busiest month,” he said. “How much more can we take?”
Mandurah hospitality and tourism operators say they lost more than $330,000 last weekend when the number of visitors to the area dropped by 92 per cent after the train line between Rockingham and Mandurah was closed for maintenance work.
But the Peel Region Tourism Association claims local business lost more than $700,000 during the rail closure with chairman Terry Collier now seeking talks with the state government to discuss compensation.
Weekend train services between Mandurah and Rockingham will be cancelled for the next three weekends during the height of the tourism season, estimated to cost local business $1.3 million.
Transport Minister Simon O’Brien said the rail works associated with construction of the $155 million Mandurah Entrance Road was essential to provide Mandurah a world-class gateway capable of delivering many visitors and commuters right into the heart of the region.
In December 2009, businesses in the industrial land precinct at north-east Baldivis were up in arms after a road extension project considered vital for the development of the area was indefinitely delayed due to health and environmental concerns.
This was despite the Rockingham/Kwinana industrial land, which would be serviced by the extension of Mundijong Road, being nominated as a “priority industrial site” in the WA government’s Industrial Land Strategy.
Construction was due to start next month to alleviate traffic in the area, which is expected to double over the next 10 years.
Local Chambers of Commerce and Industry WA chief executive Charles Bellow said the issues in Mandurah and the southern corridor were indicative of growing pains for WA.
“Normally issues like these are long-term plans and anyone who owns a business should be checking what the potential planning is for that area,” he said.
“But regardless, councils need to give warning and could be forced to pay compensation if they knew what they were doing (to business) and didn’t do the right thing by those businesses.”
Mandurah mayor Paddi Creevey did not respond to WA Business News’ requests for comment before going to press.
