In September 2023, Main Roads met with the Nyungar community and asked the group to nominate representatives to establish a Nyungar alignment selection working group as part of the planning study. The group will work together with Main Roads to understand the constraints and work towards determining a preferred alignment. Concurrently, wider community and stakeholder engagement will also be undertaken to inform the alignment selection process.
We intend to engage with the Nyungar community in a co-design process, respecting the strong cultural significance of the area to ensure cultural values are respected and protected.
The outcomes from these meetings, and from the wider Pinjarra community and stakeholders’ engagement, will be used to inform the selection of a preferred alignment that considers heritage, environment, social and economic constraints. This alignment will then be presented through Main Roads to the Minister for Transport for approval to progress.
We will update the community with information about the alignment selection process as we progress.
We will continue to liaise with the wider community and stakeholders to provide updates and respond to queries as this process progresses. The project has a wider community and stakeholder engagement plan which forms the basis, and set out activities, for future engagement.
Feedback and enquiries are welcome from community members and key stakeholders.
Previous consultation:
- Shire of Murray undertook extensive consultation in 2017-18, and we are building on that important work.
- Contacting landowners (2020 – 2021) and residents adjacent to the proposed work area to discuss the project and any queries or concerns.
- Briefing the Shire of Murray (March 2020 and September 2021)
- Drop-in session in December 2021 that allowed community members to find out more about the project and to provide feedback.
- Meetings with businesses at South Western Highway and Pinjarra Williams Road intersection, the Pinjarra Race Club, the Peel Chamber of Commerce and the Murray Business Support Group and Alcoa.
The key outcome of this consultation was a request to build the whole project from South Western Highway (north) to Greenlands Road South Western Highway (south) intersection instead of just Stage 1 which is from Pinjarra Williams Road to Greenlands Road South Western Highway (south) intersection. Following this, additional funding was provided on 22 March 2022 to build both Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the project, South Western Highway (north) to Greenlands Road South Western Highway (south) intersection.