Lack of support may derail new prison bid
THE proposed Northern Regional Prison at Westbury is still far from a sure thing and the huge surge of community opposition seems determined to keep it as far from a certainty as possible.
And a line from a government document could hold the key to unravelling it altogether.
Since it was announced at the end of September that the Meander Valley township was the preferred location for a new maximum security prison – much to the surprise of Westbury residents – the State Government has come under heavy fire from locals and the Opposition over its handling of the selection and consultation processes.
The Justice Department’s Targeted Expressions of Interest document lists the 10 “siting principles” that guided the selection process for a northern prison site, including access to services, courts and family members.
It also includes the sentence: The level of community support and engagement will underpin the project.
It might just be this first condition that poses the biggest threat to the project, with hundreds attending a rally against the prison in Westbury last weekend.
“Other places were on the list as well, Scottsdale and Wesley Vale were asked and those communities said no, but at least they were asked,” Westbury resident Heather Donaldson said.
“I suspect Westbury was considered to be small enough that if this proposal was unpopular it wouldn’t mean enough votes to put them out of office, so they just went ahead with it.”
Corrections Minister Elise Archer has repeatedly assured locals that their concerns will be heard and a consultation process is under way, but Mrs Donaldson said the consultation process so far has been sadly lacking.
“They’ve had these dropin sessions at Fitzpatrick’s Inn where a couple of public servants from the department sit at a table trying to tell us how lucky we are to have the prison here,” she said.
“And they weren’t even making any notes on what they were hearing, so it doesn’t exactly look like they were taking our concerns seriously.”