Dardanup Shire councillors vote to assume ownership of abandoned Collie River southern fishing platform

The Shire of Dardanup is set to take ownership of a derelict fishing jetty and go it alone to restore it to its former glory after negotiations with Main Roads and neighbouring councils were unsuccessful. Dardanup Shire councillors on Wednesday voted to assume ownership of the Collie River southern fishing platform structure and develop an action plan to carry out repairs and maintain the facility. It comes as negotiations to enter a four-party agreement with the City of Bunbury, Shire of Harvey and Main Roads WA to conduct repair works and develop a management plan stalled. After Dardanup Shire councillors voted to enter the negotiations in January, letters were sent to the chief executives of the two neighbouring councils, along with the director of South West operations of Main Roads WA, outlining council’s decision and inviting expressions of interest in participation in joint funding support. However, all three declined to take part in the joint management of the fishing platform. ‘While Main Roads funded the initial refurbishment of the fishing jetty as part of the bridge replacement project, Main Roads will not be involved in an ongoing joint funding arrangement for the maintenance of this structure,” Main Roads WA’s March 8 response read. “While I can understand the Shire of Dardanup position and request for funding, as for the reasons stated, I am unable to support such request,” City of Bunbury’s March 21 response read. “The Shire of Harvey does not accept any responsibility for any maintenance requirements/capital improvements of this infrastructure,” Shire of Harvey’s March 27 response read. The Shire of Harvey also advised in its response that it was currently giving consideration to demolishing the now dilapidated northern fishing platform, which shares a common lineage and history with the southern platform. While concerns were raised about the amount of money that would need to be spent to conduct the repair works, along with the ongoing cost to maintain the fishing jetty, Dardanup shire chief executive Andre Schoenfeldt assured councillors funding had been accounted for in the upcoming budget and long-term financial plan. Dardanup president Mick Bennett said the shire now just needs to get on and make the platform safe for people to use. “I know we discussed the ownership of it but at the end of the day my recollection when the bridge was being built down there was that the community wanted to save the platforms and we assumed that we would be paying some cost for that afterwards and that’s coming up now,” he said. “Because it has not been on our asset plan, we never even looked at it as something we should be checking on every 12 months to make sure it’s still safe. “At the moment it’s not as safe as we would like it so we’ve got to do the maintenance to get it right. “We’ve got to either accept it or we’ve got to pay a similar amount of money to get rid of it. “I think the community uses it sufficiently for us to justify the expense of that money.” Cr Bennett said the repairs would likely take place later in the year. The jetty was closed to the public in May last year after the facility fell outside the care and control of any local authority and subsequently deteriorated to an unsafe condition. Despite its closure and a barrier being put in place to prevent people using the jetty, some continue to use the facility for fishing, crabbing and recreational swimming. The Collie River southern fishing platform was attached to the old Collie River Bridge, which was built in 1962 and managed by the Shire of Harvey in co-operation with Main Roads WA. A new concrete and steel bridge was constructed in the 2009-10 financial year and opened in April 2010, followed by construction of a new pedestrian boardwalk in 2011 linking the original jetty and fishing platform to the river bank. The eastern end of the boardwalk connected the facility to the Shire of Dardanup, while the western end connected the facility to the City of Bunbury. While the physical location of the fishing platform and the original section of the jetty remained within the Shire of Harvey, the assets were not directly accessible by land within that shire. A report previously presented to the Dardanup council stated “the lack of a clear and obvious owner of the structure following construction is the source of the present uncertainty”.