Preston Beach could potentially become first non-national park beach to require payment for 4WDs

Waroona’s most popular, and only, beach could be the first in the State that requires payment for four-wheel-drive owners if they want to shred some sand in the future.

The Shire of Waroona finds itself in an almost impossible position, dealing with Preston Beach as the community struggles with day trippers and campers adding pressure to the rural hamlet.

At the most recent council meeting on February 27, the council looked at plans to implement a new beach visitor management strategy to the area.

The plans could involve adding security cameras to the beach, traffic management solutions and investigating a paid permit system for visitors with 4WDs visiting the beach.

Infrastructure on the beach has been suffering significantly as more and more visitors flock to the town.

Bins are often overflowing, the beach becomes dangerously overcrowded and visitors climb the environmentally significant sand dunes for their ablutions as the current toilets are regularly blocked.

According to council documents, the number of visitors descending on Preston Beach during the Christmas period in 2023 was so big that even with shire staff, volunteers and rangers combined, they struggled to maintain order on the shore.

Shire president Mike Walmsley said implementing a system where they are able to monitor the number of people on the beach would be crucial for its future management.

“We have no mechanism to find out how many people are on the beach, which can lead to issues since the beach isn’t actually that wide,” he said.

“We have cars rolling up and down that beach, and we have no way to enforce a speed limit.

You’ve got three or four cars parked in a row, children playing, people doing their stuff and sooner or later something is going to happen.

“Hopefully not, but it is an identified safety issue.”

This would be the first time a shire has attempted to charge for access to a portion of coastline, though, Cr Walmsley said the system would be similar to those already in place at national parks around the State.

He said any revenue gathered would be used to maintain the facilities which people who visit the beach often use.

Any plan put in place would have to work in sync with the City of Mandurah and Shire of Harvey as the beach itself is a parallel road to Forrest Highway.

Beach goers can currently travel from Tim’s Thicket in Mandurah’s south, through the Shire of Waroona and Preston Beach, until they eventually hit Buffalo Road on the southern tip of the Harvey Shire.

This sandy superhighway stretching a staggering 60km would need to be severed if the Shire of Waroona wanted to implement any plans.

Cr Walmsley said the bottom line was the Waroona ratepayers were the ones paying for maintenance and upkeep of the facilities at the beach and he would like to see beach visitors share the load.

“It’s a privilege to drive on the beach,” he said.

“And we don’t want to lose that privilege, so we have to get better at what we are doing out there.”