The leaders of residence groups associated with Port Geographe say the Wonnerup beachfront is in the worst state in the 16 years since groynes were installed at the harbour entrance, and they’ve had a gutful of excuses.

Chairman of the Port Geographe Action Group, Peter Maccora said a late start to the bypassing work to remove built-up seagrass wrack from the western side of the groynes at the harbour entrance, has created a disaster area.

The Busselton shire began removing some 200,000 cubic metres of seagrass wrack and sand from the western side and depositing it on the Wonnerup beach to the east on October 10.

Despite public meetings with officials from the shire, the Department of Planning and Infrastructure and Department of Transport, the locals say they have been ignored, and the time for talking is over.

“The State and the Busselton shire have total disregard for the residents of Wonnerup,” Peter said.

“The bypassing work needs start in September so the late winter storms can clear the Wonnerup Beach and take the build-up out to sea.

“The council put out a notice that the bypassing work must be completed by October 15.”

Peter said everyone, including the Port Geographe Land Owner’s Association, and the Wonnerup Resident’s Association vowed have to take whatever action necessary to ensure that it doesn’t.

Chair of the Wonnerup Resi-dents Association Judy Clarke is equally as furious, and says she will take her fight to the top.

“Now the shire is bypassing material from Wonnerup and carting it off somewhere else,” she said.

“There is no way the residents at Wonnerup will have a beachfront by Christmas.”

Oliver Darby, the shire’s director of engineering and works services, said weather conditions and other minor delays, along with a greater-than-anticipated volume of material to be moved, had contributed to the problem.

“More work is needed at Wonnerup and we have been meeting with residents to discuss concerns, especially relating to the high volume of seagrass wrack present in inshore waters,” he said.

“The shire is undertaking this through the default of the developers and it’s enormously complex and costly. We remain committed to helping contain the seagrass wrack problem in the short term, and working with the relevant departments and stakeholder groups to come up with a long-term solution.”