GATES on a Wundowie pedestrian and emergency accessway will be left unlocked following a Shire of Northam council decision.

Councillors voted 4-2 on July 29 to retain the gates on the accessway between Brown Road and Olive Road but remove the locks.

The decision follows a 12-month trial during which gates at both ends of the route were locked.

The accessway was retained by council in 2017 and upgraded so it could be used by two-wheel-drive vehicles during emergencies.

Unlocked gates were installed to discourage unwanted vehicle access while keeping the route available as an emergency exit.

Council changed that decision in May 2025, voting 6-3 to install gates and boulders and lock the gates for a 12-month trial.

Shire officers recommended returning the gates to an unlocked state because state bushfire planning guidelines say permanent public emergency accessways should not be locked.

The council report said the route provided a second evacuation option for the public and access for emergency services during a bushfire.

It rated the risk of locked gates compromising access or escape during an emergency as moderate.

Shire of Northam deputy president Attilla Mencshelyi opposed unlocking the gates, arguing the route was primarily a pedestrian accessway.

“Pedestrian accessways are for everyday walking or cycling, not motorbikes,” he said.

“We have had peace on the 240m pedestrian accessway for 14 months now.

“By unlocking the gates, there will be a resurgence of motorbikes and vehicles belting through the pedestrian accessway.”

Cr Mencshelyi said emergency vehicles carried equipment that could be used to cut through locks if access was required.

He said there had been no complaints during the trial to his knowledge and urged councillors to keep the gates locked.

Councillor Julie Williams supported the officer’s recommendation.

She said shire staff had clarified that the land was created as a pedestrian accessway but had since been upgraded for emergency vehicle access.

“It is a pedestrian accessway and an emergency accessway,” she said.

Cr Williams said she questioned whether earlier concerns about motorcycles using the route had been supported by evidence.

“All the people that have spoken to me from those surrounding streets have said that horse riders, pedestrians and school kids on bikes are the people that actually used it, not motorbikes,” she said.

“We’ve had no evidence at all since that time.”

Cr Williams said councillors had a responsibility to represent the community at large and not one landowner or a small group of landowners.

The shire’s report said no formal consultation with nearby landowners had been undertaken when the locks were installed following the previous council resolution from 2025.

It also said there had been no feedback showing whether the locked gates had successfully prevented access by unwanted vehicles or created problems for emergency services.

The gates and boulders will remain in place, with only the locks removed.