City calls for Bay Village rehab clause

At a meeting earlier this month, City of Karratha councillors agreed that in order to support Woodside’s Bay Village development, a condition for the decommissioning of the facility at the end of the lease was required.

This condition was added to another 15 already stipulated in the City’s proposed recommendation to the Joint Application Development Panel, which will ultimately decide on the project.

Councillors reaffirmed their disdain for Bay Village but noted the latest application from Woodside was a significant improvement on what was originally proposed, agreeing to support the development as long as their conditions were met.

Cr Daniel Scott said Woodside should not be building another camp, particularly in an area zoned for urban development.

“I just note that the Chamber of Commerce has done some feasibility around this and there is no demonstrated need for a camp of this size in the future,” he said.

Mayor Peter Long reminded councillors Premier Mark McGowan had already gone over their heads on the approval of the camp.

“This is not about whether we have a camp or not, we’ve lost that battle ... The motion on the table is to note that we think it’s a crummy idea and maintain that it should be elsewhere, however if it goes ahead here’s a list of things we’d like to see,” he said.

The council has stipulated that the approval is limited to 10 years from the date of occupation and the development is only to be occupied by Woodside employees and direct contractors involved with Woodside and/or North West Shelf Joint Venture projects.

The decommissioning clause added to the recommendation called for arehabilitation plan to be submitted and endorsed by the City six months before the expiry of the 10-year occupancy period.

That plan would then have to be implemented to the satisfaction of the City within 12 months of the occupancy period ceasing.

Woodside Australia operations unit senior vice-president Niall Myles said it recognised the need to decommission facilities at the end of a lease term as it was standard industry practice.

“We are continuing to work through the planning approval process with our key partners, including the City and look forward to seeing their final report which will go to the JDAP panel,” he said.