Green flag: Albany Motorsport Park secures land lease approval, prepares for construction

Work on the long-awaited Albany Motorsport Park can officially start after the City of Albany Council approved the lease of the land. The councillors on Tuesday unanimously approved a 20-year community lease for 138ha of a 192ha site in Drome, after the project was backed by the Joint Development Assessment Panel on February 1. The green light comes after more than two decades of community campaigning. The Great Southern Motorplex Group will oversee the development of the park, with the newly formed not-for-profit association Albany Motorsport Venue Incorporated to manage and operate it once established. GSMG chairman Theo Newhouse said the approval of the lease was a big relief for supporters. “To us, it’s like when you start a race and they give you a green flag which means you can go,” he said. “Now the lease has been granted, we have got access to the site because the land is owned by the City of Albany and they are leasing it to us. “So now we can actually start doing stuff on it and building stuff on it, so there are a few things that we have to get off fairly quickly.” Mr Newhouse said the group would soon call for tenders for the first phase of construction works, including a slip lane going into the park, a fire emergency escape route, fencing and revegetation to protect the wetland area. They will also seek contractors to build the motocross precinct, featuring a 2.4km motocross track, buildings, an internal access road, carpark and stormwater drainage. “That requires construction of drains or a pipe drain through the system and also substantial filling earthworks to lift it up above a certain level . . . and then build the motocross track on top of that,” he said. “That’s very urgent to get that going and to get the motocross up and moving.” Mr Newhouse said work was expected to start on the motocross track after winter. “Then we will be going flat out to build it and get it so the Albany Motorcycle Club can start using it next year,” he said. “This year they haven’t been able to do anything at all because they have had nowhere to go.” Construction of the park’s 3.5km long and 12m wide multi-use race track could start next year. “Tenders have already been received for the design and documentation by engineers and expert track designers for the multi-use race track precinct and the associated works,” Mr Newhouse said. “That is being considered at the moment and that has to go to council for approval which will be in July. “Then once that is approved they can start doing the design and documentation on that, so we can start construction on that sometime next year.”