Two popular regional beaches getting major facelift with South West city allocating $100,000 for upgrades

Two popular regional beaches will be getting major upgrades after councillors from a South West city voted to allocate $100,000 to infrastructure upgrades. Wonnerup Beach and Forrest Beach are set for a facelift with the City of Busselton approving plans to retain current permitted uses and to allocating funding to deliver upgrades over the next two years. During the city’s council meeting on April 23, the council unanimously decided to adopt a resolution regarding the community outcomes, with the council accepting the officer recommendation regarding permitted uses and amenity controls. The recommendation came to the council after a community-wide survey was conducted in March 2025 which attracted 652 responses, with 71.5 per cent being “unhappy” or “very unhappy” about the idea of modifying the existing uses of each beach, while 70.7 per cent were “unhappy” or “very unhappy” about the idea of implementing seasonal rules and time restrictions. Mayor Phill Cronin said the council wanted to address escalating community concerns surrounding the safety and amenity regarding inappropriate use at Forrest Beach. “It was very clear from the survey that people did not want to see the current uses changed, but there was a strong message from the community that compliance issues needed to be resolved,” he said. “It is also critically important that we do what we can to protect the coastal environment, and the new infrastructure should serve to prevent further damage to our dune systems.” He said the city had committed to constructing several facilities including a formal carpark for horse floats, bollards and signage, to ensure people were using these beaches within the permitted uses and thanked the community for bringing the issues with the beaches to the council’s attention.