EXCLUSIVE - Perth V8 bid abandoned after Council rejects plan
2/4/2000 0:18 (Jason Whittaker) - Plans to take the V8 Supercars to the streets of down-town Perth next year have been abandoned, after the Perth City Council rejected the proposal put before them early this week.
After originally granting approval for the proposed three-day V8 Supercar event (to be staged around Langley Park) last year, the Council this week cited the massive permanent works required to stage the event as the impetus for rejecting the proposal.
It appears that necessary works such as the widening of many roads, the relocation of a number of trees and the "destruction" of Langley Park proved a sticking point for the Council. Race organisers were not prepared to compromise on circuit layout.
Deputy Lord Mayor Michael Sutherland was one who pushed to have the event refused, saying the required works would undo the Council's work to improve the Swan River foreshore.
"The original plan brought to us was much softer than what has come to us now," Mr Sutherland said.
"Riverside Drive will have to be widened for this event to go ahead. It's been everyone's wish that Riverside Drive would disappear or at least reduce in significance," he said.
Opinions were divided on the Council floor however, with many Councillors realising the economic benefits possible for the city, believed to be in excess of $20 million.
"We'd hate to lose it. But we can't afford to have Langley Park encroached on," Councillor Bert Tudori said.
Fellow Councillor Judy EcEvoy said the proposal should have been considered further before dismissing it. "This is going to bring 10,000 hotel nights to Perth for the time it is here," she said.
A visibly dejected proposal Chairman, Ross Roberts, agreed.
"The tourism benefits are now definitely lost," he said. "The Auto Expo we were going to bring over with the event is now lost."
"I think the whole motor racing industry over here will now fail."
Roberts was most disappointed that the proposal did not receive the consideration or cooperation it deserved.
"We haven't seen any recommendations from them on how we could address the Langley Park issue. "They haven't come back to me with any compromise," he said.
It now appears the race, and the economic benefits, will be lost overseas to Malaysia, where AVESCO are planning an event at the Sepang circuit, home to last weekend's Motorcycle Grand Prix.
Sources from WA motorsport circles told us AVESCO would have to "seriously consider" returning to Western Australia at all, including the Barbagallo sprint meeting.
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