Katanning street upgrade too slow: MP

The trees are looking greener and upgrades to Katanning's main street footpaths are under way, but Liberal Member for the Agricultural Region Jim Chown believes the main street upgrade has taken longer than needed to complete.

The parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Transport and Finance said although the upgrade was needed, it had taken longer than it should have.

"The main street of Katanning needed an upgrade. I think upgrades in main streets are essential and I think a lot of them have fallen into disrepair," Mr Chown said. "The main street of any town is the showpiece of the town and enhances the activity.

"In regards to Katanning, the main street upgrade has taken longer than it should have, but they have run into issues such as that of the underground works they didn't know existed.

"This is pretty normal of the age of towns like Katanning but I hope the upgrades finish soon. I think it's probably gone on for too long but I'm not aware of the conditions that may have been involved."

Katanning Travel Centre manager Andrew Pritchard said the business community knew the revitalisation would have benefits but the process had been tough.

"I guess it has been explained it's going to take some time and it looks nice, but we didn't expect it to take this long," he said. "The trees are looking green now and bollards have been placed to identify parking areas so that's a positive."

Shire of Katanning president Alan McFarland said bad weather was hampering efforts to complete the Supertowns-funded project.

"We have started work on the town square but the weather has been holding us up," he said.

Mr Chown said from an engineering perspective, the revitalisation was not a big operation.

"I would hope once the main street works are complete a large street party takes place, inviting residents in the community to let people know it is open for business," he said

Cr McFarland said the revitalisation's completion would be celebrated in February next year.