What happens when a threatened species gets in the way of a new Perth housing estate?

Another population of an extraordinary species of spider has been discovered in the dunes near Lancelin but is facing “imminent extinction” from a housing estate set to bulldoze its only known habitat utilising an environmental approval that is 33 years old.

Original plans for the sprawling 245-hectare site included a complex incorporating an 18-hole golf course, marina, beach resort and housing estate at Eglinton, 50 kilometres north of Perth.

That appears to have fallen by the wayside with nothing but residential plans now – proponent Eglinton Estates sold two portions of the site in 2019, one to prominent land developer Peet for Elavale estate, another to Cedar Woods for the 1200-lot Eglinton Village (the third prime oceanfront parcel, which has the green light to build a 1400-lot estate, remains unsold).

WAtoday revealed last month that the only known habitat of a peacock jumping spider species only discovered in 2022, the maratus Yanchep, was just 20 metres from Peet’s Elavale estate, putting it at high risk of extinction.

Because ministerial environmental approvals for Elavale were published before the spider was discovered, there are no conditions or restrictions in place to protect it.

Last week Year 12 student and photographer Michael Lun found a second population of the species 200 metres from that first discovery spot, on land owned by Peet, earmarked for houses and roads.

A state government spokesman declined to comment on the original conditions of approval published in 1991 from then-environment minister Bob Pearce, which was superseded by a fresh approval in 2015 in recognition of the outdated terms, but apparently without a requirement to do any fresh surveys of the land.

For the species to be listed as threatened under the Biodiversity Conservation Act, the relevant WA scientific committees need to make a recommendation to the minister, which has yet to occur – and the limited data currently available for the peacock spider precludes it from being assessed.

The state government said there were mechanisms available under the Environmental Protection Act to amend conditions of an existing approval, but doing so in this situation would be extremely unusual – if not unprecedented – given the species wasn’t listed as threatened.

Greens MP Brad Pettitt called on current Environment Minister Reece Whitby to review this project and put solutions in place to prevent an avoidable and foreseeable extinction.

He said the developer could initiate a new independent ecological survey that included invertebrates, and develop a new management plan to minimise potential impacts on the peacock spider.

Elavale Estate works are clearing coastal dune vegetation in which the maratus Yanchep has been found. Credit: RP Data, left; Michael Lun Photography, right (composite image)

“Standing back and letting the likely extinction of this amazing species play out before our eyes should not be an option,” he said.

Pettitt wrote to Whitby to share concerns raised with his office about the validity of the approvals.

He said the original approval in 1991 had the condition that should the proponent not substantially start the project within five years, the approval would lapse.

It also stated that unless the proponent successfully requested an extension within that five-year period, a new referral to the Environmental Protection Authority would be required.

“No such referral is evident. An updated referral would have required fresh ecology surveys which may have identified the presence of maratus Yanchep,” he said.

“Consequently, a newly discovered species, thought to be endemic to that specific location, is at risk of imminent extinction.”

Perth’s northwest corridor is expanding rapidly with the population in Eglinton alone expected to more than triple to over 24,000 residents by 2046.

In October 2022, federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek committed to preventing further native species extinctions and creating a federal Environmental Protection Agency to assess development proposals.

This has stalled in parliament with the Greens and Coalition refusing to back it.

During his visit to Perth, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was open to a compromise with the Coalition that would water down the powers of this new EPA to make it a compliance-only watchdog rather than also having a decisionmaking role.

WA Premier Roger Cook on Thursday welcomed this signalling.

Peet declined to comment.

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