Contradictory decisions on Hedland dust in the spotlight

Recent findings dust exposure could affect the health of Hedland’s West End residents has put the focus back onto contradictory rulings made by the State Government’s environmental regulator, a business owner says.

West End dentist Roger Higgins questioned how the Environmental Protection Authority could red-flag plans for apartments on Hedland’s Spoilbank, yet be unconcerned with an apartment complex across the road on the old hospital site.

Both developments are in Hedland’s West End and subject to planning controls designed to limit exposure to high levels of dust.

An EPA spokeswoman said the regulator made the decisions “based on the best information available at the time”.

But Mr Higgins said the rulings made no sense, especially because the old hospital site was even closer to large stockpiles of raw materials at Port Hedland’s port.

“I can’t understand why a regulator would prevent … a marina (and apartment complex) from being built there on (the Spoilbank), which is even more remote from (the port) than the old hospital site, ” he said.

The criticism follows long delays in completing studies into the health impact of dust on residents.

While the West End is Port Hedland’s historic heart, it is also the area closest to sources of dust from Port Hedland Port.

Questions over whether the dust could harm the health of residents has led to uncertainty about what sort of buildings and businesses should be permitted in the area.

With this in mind the EPA, in February, 2014, objected to a Town of Port Hedland move to rezone land on the Spoilbank to allow a marina and hotel and apartment complex to be built.

Former EPA chairman Paul Vogel advised the Town in a statement it should wait until the Health Department released a report into risks associated with dust exposure before allowing apartments or hotels on the site.

“The EPA has taken a precautionary approach with respect to rezoning land in the West End to land uses that would potentially increase the short or long-term residential populations of these areas, ” he said.

Yet one year earlier in February, 2013, the EPA raised no objections to a move to rezone land at the adjacent old hospital site.

The rezoning aimed to allow Finbar Group to push ahead with its plans to build more than 500 residential apartments and 163 short-stay apartments on the land.

This included an allowance for Finbar to build apartments at double the density recommended for most other West End residential areas.

The EPA spokeswoman denied the regulator had made a mistake in allowing this to go through.

She said the EPA had sought in both rulings the best available advice from Government agency experts such the Health Department.

Mr Higgins remained unconvinced.

He said EPA’s contradictory rulings had created further uncertainty for West End businesses and property investors at a time when they were not only worried about the impacts of dust, but also about surviving the economic downturn.