The Shire of Ashburton and the National Party are both angry, saying Chevron has broken its promise to Onslow and created infrastructural uncertainty.

Chevron disagrees with that point of view and says its decision is driven by safety because it will reduce the need for workers to spend another hour travelling on top of a 12-hour shift.

It also has a construction camp on the Wheatstone site that will be more than capable of housing the operational workforce.

Interestingly, the Onslow community was opposed to Chevron workers being based in the town in the first place. They felt the sight of workers in their high-visibility uniforms would detract from the town's tourism industry.

Chevron also looks like getting caught in the crossfire from a brouhaha between the WA Liberal and National parties.

According to reports, National Party WA leader Terry Redman launched a scathing attack on WA Premier Colin Barnett yesterday when Barnett announced he had signed off on Chevron switching from an Onslow village to accommodating its workers at Wheatstone.

National Party Member for North West Central Vince Catania said Chevron had broken its promises to the Onslow community.

He said the US-based oil major had turned its back on commitments made in the state agreement to build a village in Onslow and also refused to fully fund the Onslow airport.

"The state agreement was carefully worded to ensure the Onslow community benefited from the gas project," Catania said.

"The plan was developed to ensure the town would prosper and the breaking of this agreement will greatly impact on the local community, the shire and local businesses.

"I am extremely disappointed at the poor corporate behaviour displayed by Chevron. The Onslow community expected and deserves more.

"I am also very unhappy that the premier has signed off on these changes to the state agreement.

"The entire Onslow housing development project hinged on the support of Chevron."

According to Chevron, putting the fly-in, fly-out operations village in Onslow town was never part of the state agreement.

A Chevron spokesman said that despite Catania's claims, Chevron remained committed to building housing in Onslow.

"In March Chevron purchased 50 lots and a nine hectare site within LandCorp's stage 1 residential development in Onslow," he said.

"Chevron's commitment to the sale has enabled LandCorp to start construction of 220 lots in stage 1 of the estate, providing vital new land for housing in the rapidly growing town.

"As part of the Wheatstone project we have committed $250 million for critical and social infrastructure, which incorporates upgrading community facilities, education and health services and road, water and power infrastructure."

Ashburton Shire President Kerry White said Chevron's decision could affect some of the town's infrastructure planning.

When Energy News contacted her, White was about to head into a meeting with the Water Corporation over the desalination plant planned for Onslow.

She said the moving of the village could throw those plans into disarray.

White said the council was also unhappy with the way the decision had been handled.

"We're shocked because we haven't been consulted at all either by government or Chevron," she said.

"I don't know where we go from here.

"There was an allowance for the Chevron workers made in the town planning scheme.

"They [Chevron] signed planning deeds saying the permanent workforce would be based in [Onslow] town."

White said the Wheatstone project had made life difficult for the small town's residents.

For one thing, it caused rents to rise from about $150-200 a week to $2500 per week, which led to a number of residents leaving because they could no longer afford to stay.

"It costs the shire $1 million in rent to house staff," White said.

She said Chevron had committed to paying for social infrastructure but added that so far "we're yet to see any benefits".

White said there were also supply companies looking to come to town to support the Wheatstone project and that would help.

Catania said Chevron had "back flipped" on supporting the construction of the airport at Onslow, leaving the Shire of Ashburton with a $10 million shortfall.

The shortfall was picked up by the Royalties for Regions scheme but that reduced the amount of money the scheme could put towards projects in other areas.

"Up until now Chevron has made the right noises about community development but now we are starting to see some of those commitments disappear," Catania said.

The Chevron spokesman said the company had contributed close to $30 million for the upgrade of the Onslow Airport runway and was "continuing to work with the Department of State Development and the Shire of Ashburton to finalise planning for the remaining airport infrastructure".