$500,000 feasibility report to determine fate of Scarborough Beach to Trigg boardwalk

A boardwalk between Scarborough and Trigg beaches could once again become a possibility after the City of Stirling has commissioned a $500,000 feasibility report.

A similar project has twice been turned down, once in 2005 and again in 2012, but at a council meeting on June 25, a new four-year plan was passed and the budget for the boardwalk report listed.

The area dividing the two beaches has the highest degree of protection for conservation as the sand dunes and vegetation is a Class A reserve.

City of Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin said the community has expressed interest into the project once again, despite it being rejected twice in the past.

“We’ve had a lot of community responses and community interest in having another look at this,” he said. “Half a million dollars won’t be spent upfront, but that is essentially what it costs to look at things.”

“There’s never been an independent environmental study to work out how it can occur in those areas, so this is an important step,” he added.

The project will go through four phases in 2025, starting in Q1 with an environmental impact study, before going through community engagement in Q2 and Q3 before a preliminary design is established by Q4.

At the council meeting there were ample locals expressing their concerns over the project and questioning the cost of the feasibility study, with one attendee questioning why rate payers money was being spent “on a project that has been rejected by residents and failed twice already?”

Mayor Irwin said there were two reasons for looking into the project, adding that he also feels it could be a world-class tourist attraction.

“There’s a couple of good reasons to have a look at it and those are safety, and then amenity,” he said. “But we see this a way to also create an incredible tourist attraction.”

However, the Mayor made clear that this study will take on board the community’s concerns before deciding if it should progress.

“The money that was on the budget is for a few items,” he said. “It’s for a plan for the boardwalk, community consultation which will inform Council’s decision-making process and the independent environmental study which is an important part.”

Currently, the City of Stirling is running a community engagement project which is asking ‘What Scarborough feels like to you, and how you would like it to feel in the future?’

Within the Feels Like Scarborough project, the city is taking feedback on a potential boardwalk between Scarborough and Trigg – the engagement closes on July 31.