Shire of Northampton transfer land from State Government to progress with Kalbarri workers’ accommodation

The Shire of Northampton has taken back land in Kalbarri where the State Government had arranged to build workers accommodation, after the preferred proponent went out of business. Crown land was unlocked by the State Government for a housing development to attract and retain staff in March last year as the town of Kalbarri continues to rebuild from cyclone Seroja. The Woods St site will be transferred from the State Government to the Shire of Northampton to proceed to build the much-needed facility after the preferred proponent, Petra Westkey, or Westkey Modular Housing, closed their doors. In August 2022, it was revealed Petra Westkey would construct the multi-user workers’ accommodation facility on Woods St, Kalbarri, but no progress was made more than a year on. The Geraldton Guardian revealed the company’s NSW branch entered liquidation in May, which shares the same address as the WA branch. Shire president Liz Sudlow said the process with the State Government had been disappointing and going forward it would be a matter of progressing the project in a staged approach. “The next stage will be looking for prospective people that might be interested to partner with us,” she said. Following the delay, the Shire opted to provide temporary transportable accommodation units to house workers consisting of 15 caravan bays, wash facilities and a camp kitchen installed at Anchorage Lane.