The land developer has defended his North Stoneville development, following a recent heated protest against it.
Nigel Satterley has hit back at critics of his proposed North Stoneville development, claiming opposition to the project comes from “professional protesters" who use it as a sport.
Mr Satterley’s plan to develop a 1,000 lot estate in the area, about 35 kilometres north east of Perth, was the subject of a recent protest in Mundaring.
A final decision on the plan sits with the State Administrative Tribunal, following its rejection by the Western Australian Planning Commission in 2023.
Speaking to Business News about the project, Mr Satterley said he did not sympathise with the cause of the protesters.
“We think there’s a demand [for the estate],” he said.
“It’s a hills product, a good product, good economically.
“There are professional protesters who use this as a sport, so we just got to do our best and go through the statutory process.”
Politicians from each major party attended the protest, including Liberal Bullwinkel candidate Matt Moran, Nationals Bullwinkel candidate Mia Davies, and Hasluck MP Tania Lawrence.
None were in favour of the project, and Ms Lawrence communicated her views to the large crowd.
“I have long opposed this development,” she said.
“The state authorities oppose this development, the local authorities oppose it, the insurance council have been pleading with planners to take account of increased risk in bushfire environments.”
The North Stoneville proposal gained federal environmental approval in September last year, but a final decision on the long-mooted plan is in the hands of the State Administrative Tribunal.
Mr Satterley said he was determined to see the North Stoneville plan come to fruition.
“We’ve received the federal environmental approval, we’re in SAT and they’ve asked us to do certain things, so we have to redo those and then go back to SAT,” he said.
Mr Satterley added that there was “a lot of propaganda” being spread about Satterley Property Group planning to knock down trees for the development.
When asked how many trees he intended to knock down, he responded “very few”.
“The environmental federal process took some time, [it was a] very thorough process,” he said.
“We’ve got the tick for that.”
A final SAT hearing for the proposed development is listed across 21 days in September.
Mr Satterley, the state’s largest land developer, is in the land developers feature in today's print edition of Business News.
