Leschenault walk a fine local attraction

One of Bunbury’s most popular walks will be promoted as a big attraction in the city.

On the back of construction work being completed at the Frank Buswell Foreshore, the Bunbury City Council is set to ramp up its attention on paths and landscaping around the Leschenault Inlet.

The $850,000 project saw parts of the foreshore near the Stirling Street boat ramp closed for about five months, but the area was re-opened last week.

The project included a 250m section of marine wall being replaced and new landscaping for the popular family area.

Talking about the project being completed, Mayor Gary Brennan revealed the work was a piece of the puzzle in one of the city’s most popular walks.

“We’re going to promote that as one of the big attractions for Bunbury — that walk around the inlet — with signs and interpretive signage,” Mr Brennan said.

“It’s a nice wide path and the city (council) has been doing a lot of landscaping there with all the trees and other plants, it’s looking really good.

“So that work is an very important part of that whole inlet walk.”

The walk around the inlet includes the foreshore, the new George Baxter Promenade, the mangroves, Pat Usher Foreshore and Queen’s Gardens in an already popular 5.3km traverse for visitors and residents.

Mr Brennan said the work completed last week was a big project for the city and he thanked the community for its patience.

“That was a major project and included much-needed repair works being completed,” he said.

“It’s great to see it re-opened to the public. but I also don’t think it was a great inconvenience to the public generally.

“Now it’s completed, it looks good and I just want to thank the public for understanding that the work had to happen.”

The project was also part of the council’s work to maintain the city’s seawalls, which Mr Brennan said was an ongoing challenge.

“We have expected maintenance, that was one of them and then we have unexpected maintenance like the seawall at Marlston,” he said.

“They’re the sorts of things that sometimes people don’t notice, but they do consume large capital outlays.”

The council was forced to declare an emergency situation earlier this year when major cracks were discovered in the Marlston Waterfront’s boardwalk.

The Frank Buswell Foreshore project included a dolphin spotter on site with work stopping if a dolphin came close to the area.