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The ten two-bedroom guesthouse on the Injidup coastal ridge was approved by council last Wednesday despite a strong argument put forward by West Rural ward councillors David Hunt and Bev Clarke to reduce the number of bedrooms.

Cr Hunt put a motion to refuse the planning consent and offering the developers an option to submit alternate plans with not less than five one bedroom suites with the other five suites to be a maximum of two bedrooms.

He said the developers had done nothing to compromise on the proposal despite a history of community concerns aimed at protecting the ridge and reducing visual impact.

"We should not take the development of a pristine coastal location like Injidup lightly," he said.

Cr Clarke said that 151 submissions against the proposal showed what the community wanted in relation to the development.

"We are wasting our time taking these proposals to the community if we don't listen," she said.

Shire president Troy Buswell spoke against the proposed compromise, saying that it was preposterous to think taking away five bedrooms would change the development's impact on the ridge.

He said that council had gone to the community and the latest proposal was the best outcome that could be obtained on behalf of a concerned community.

"The community originally demanded a guesthouse to dispel the notion of an enclave," he said. "Most of those who oppose the development don't want a guesthouse there at all. "We are here to discuss a guesthouse, not land use in the area."

He said the guesthouse was well designed to achieve the directives of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge Statement of Planning Policy to reduce visual impact and council could not pigeonhole development on pristine land.

The staff recommendation to approve the ten two-bedroom suites was passed 7 to 2.

Yallingup Holdings Ltd spokesman Ben Charnaud said the company was pleased it could now go ahead and demonstrate that the development would meet current trends and tourist demands for a family orientated holiday destination.

He said the guesthouse design was entirely appropriate for a coastal site and would be environmentally and sensitively constructed.

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