Darndanup shire councillors defer supporting park expansion

Darndanup shire councillors have deferred a decision on whether to support plans to expand Wellington National Park.

Shire president Mick Bennett said given the council’s timber encouragement policy it wanted to be better informed before making a decision.

“We have deferred that decision until we can be presented a case by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and also representatives from the forestry industry,” he said.

“We don’t want to be saying that people should be using timber more in construction then also supporting something which would lock up forest so we can’t use timber.”

Much of the the planned 7358ha expansion to the south of the existing national park falls within the shire’s boundary.

Council staff recommended councillors support the expansion prior to the meeting.

The council had opted not to support the park expanding to 20000ha when it was first raised at a meeting in February, 2017.

The planned expansion remains open to public comment until March 13.