Surf club longs for a home

The lack of a plan for a permanent Dalyellup Beach Surf Life Saving Club facility is hindering the club’s development.

Club president Jenaya Bell said they moved to Dalyellup Beach in 2007 because of a promise clubrooms would be built.

The club operates out of sea containers on land co-owned by Satterley, under Dalyellup Beach Pty Ltd and a reserve vested in the Capel Shire Council.

Ms Bell said the storage units on site had been installed with “serious club fundraising and grants” and were temporary.

“It is not just a sporting club, it provides a community service similar to volunteer fire brigade and St Johns Ambulance,” she said.

“The club clears the carpark and beach of needles, fish hooks, plastic bags and puts out fires left burning in the sand and an average of 333 people each Sunday morning visit the club.”

Capel Shire Council chief executive officer Paul Sheedy said the plan was to put a permanent building on the land in 2017-18 but it had been pushed to 2021-22 for a detailed design, with development commencing in 2023-24 over two years.

He said building on these dates would only go ahead if serious environmental issues on the community purpose site allocated by Satterley were dealt with beforehand.

“Satterley have been grappling with major environmental issues for years and at the moment there is no water or sewer to the area, so this has to be dealt with before a plan can be put together,” he said.

“As part of the Dalyellup Structure Plan, Dalyellup Beach Pty Ltd have to provide six community purpose sites with power and water.”

A Satterley spokeswoman said they supported a permanent surf club being built and would continue to work with the council and the surf club to make it happen.

“There are a number of planning, environmental and engineering issues with this location we are working through to enable the location of the future surf club site to be finalised,” she said.