Albemarle Binningup FIFO camp: Senior town planner voices concerns from residents at Shire of Harvey meeting

A senior town planner has voiced the concerns of Binningup residents over Albemarle’s plans to build a 1000-bed worker camp in the seaside town. The proposed accommodation village would be built on a 144ha rural-zoned site on Binningup Road, as revealed by the company’s Kemerton site director Daniel O’Shea in May, following a struggle to find homes for its 1499 workers because of the region’s housing crisis. Having completed an “extensive” consultation process with the Binningup community and Harvey Shire, residents sought assistance from senior associate at Planning Solutions, Ross Underwood, who spoke at the Shire of Harvey’s July agenda briefing session. Mr Underwood said residential concerns were “three-fold” and included the context and location of the facility, the “general principles” around locating workforce accommodation facilities and consideration of the zone objectives. “This is by no means a small development, originally canvassed as having 1000 or potentially more (workers), the proposal that is in with us today is to accommodate 500 workers,” he said. “That is a huge number and it accounts for approximately 39 per cent of the Binningup townsite, a population of 1296 people.” Mr Underwood said the facility “certainly” doesn’t look to be temporary, pointing out features such as its two-storey dining hall, recreation centre and 25-metre lap pool. “The applicant looks to justify this proposal on the basis of it being temporary, but this proposal is anything but, on page one of the report they say the village will be based on a 10 to 15-year lease.” “We’re sympathetic to the demand that is caused by a shortage of housing in the area but this shouldn’t be taken as an excuse to inappropriately locate facilities on rural zone land,” he said. The area planned to be used by Albemarle is zoned as general farming and designated for large-scale agricultural activities. If given the green light by councillors, the application will be referred to the September 20 ordinary council meeting, as well as opening up a period of public comment.