Wheels in motion as rezoning for long-awaited Albany Motorsport Park secures City of Albany approval

Albany Motorsport Park’s future is gaining traction after the City of Albany council voted to rezone a site in Drome to make way for the long-awaited facility. Supporters piled into the City of Albany Council chambers on Tuesday evening, with several using public question time to urge councillors to approve the rezoning of land on Down Road South from “priority agriculture” to “special use”. Speakers urged the council to support the “family-friendly” initiative which they said would benefit a wide variety of community clubs, from cycling to emergency services. After the vote, the sounds of celebration could be heard outside the council chambers as the group, some of whom had been campaigning for a motorsport park for more than a decade, inched closer to the starting line. Now the council has approved the rezoning, it must pass through the WA Planning Commission and the planning minister. Once signed off, a development application will need to be lodged through the City and approved by a Joint Development Assessment Panel before work can begin. Speaking after the meeting, Great Southern Motorplex Group chairman Theo Newhouse said the group was delighted with the result after a long battle. “The search for sites, we’ve gone through all the studies and all the work and now we believe we see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “We are all warming up our engines and moving towards the starting grid.” Councillors first voted to rezone the land to enable the construction of the motorsport park in June 2019. But when the original plans were referred to the Environmental Protection Authority, the City was told the proposal “significantly exceeded assigned noise levels”, affecting four homes in the area. The plans were modified and passed by council last year, removing the proposed drag strip and burnout pad, restricting events to a 6pm finish time, no conduction of motorcross and race events at the same time and developing a noise and waste management plan. The park will feature a motocross track, a 4WD/ATV training area, and a 3.5km wide multi-use racetrack. The land was secured in 2019 for $1.4 million as the first instalment of the State Government’s $5.75m 2017 State election promise. But Mr Newhouse said further Federal and State Government funding would be needed to deliver the full vision. He said he hoped to see work start by early next year. “Construction will be focusing on Motorcross and 4WD first and then on the racetrack later, but both of them still need expert design,” he said. Before the vote, three members of the public urged councillors to vote against the rezoning, saying development at the site would sacrifice “priority agriculture land” and put a “priority drinking water area” at risk.