A proposal to build an Aldi in Nedlands is in limbo after a development assessment panel was unable to decide on the $12 million plan.
A proposal to build an Aldi in Nedlands is in limbo after a development assessment panel was unable to decide on the $12 million plan.
The Metro Inner Development Assessment Panel today decided to defer the application for up to 60 days, for City of Nedlands to further consider the proposal.
Supermarket chain Aldi proposed to build a 1,512 square metre supermarket, six specialty stores, and semi-basement car parking on the former Captain Stirling Shopping Centre on 90 Stirling Highway.
In its reasons to defer the proposal, the panel referenced a letter the city received from Main Roads a day before the meeting.
City councillor and DAP member Fergus Bennett said the letter from Main Roads WA included a string of conditions and advice that would need more time to digest.
“If we were to make a decision whether it’ll be approval or refusal today, it seems as though the advice that has gone into creating the responsible authority report has gone out of order,” he said at the meeting.
“That letter from Main Roads if it has arrived 90 days, 60 or even 30 days ago, the RAR could’ve properly considered it and we could’ve made a decision right now.”
The city’s planning officers recommended the application be deferred for up to 120 days, but the motion was lost.
Instead, DAP deputy presiding member Eugene Koltasz proposed a deferral of up to 60 days to enable the city to consider and provide comments on the Main Roads letter.
“The application has already been extensively canvassed through the community,” he said.
“It’s just really for [city] staff to have a look at it. Just to reiterate, Main Roads support this development.”
The motion was carried by a narrow margin of three votes to two.
DAP presiding member Francesca Lefante voted against a deferral, instead backing an approval of the project.
“I do acknowledge comments provided in the city but material provided is sufficient to make determination on this proposal,” she said at the meeting.
Aldi previously received approval to build a supermarket on the site in 2018 but resubmitted the plan this year after failing to get construction going.
The supermarket chain acquired the Nedlands site, which houses the Captain Stirling shops as part of its expansion in Western Australia in 2015.
Captain Stirling Shopping Centre has been demolished and the site has been vacant since late 2023.
A proposal to build a multi-storey Woolworths building across the road, where Captain Stirling Hotel sits, has been approved by the DAP early last year.
The project is estimated to cost $25 million.
