Planning frustrations aired

Satterley Property Group director of planning Megan Adair has called for greater transparency around the structure planning process, as the planning commission signals stronger links between state and local regimes.

Speaking at Property Council of Australia WA Division event yesterday, Ms Adair pointed out the level of focus on infill development in the Western Australian Planning Commission’s recent planning reforms.

“If you read the all the paperwork around it, [infill] is the main focus,” she said.

“Admittedly, we all understand that we can't keep spreading the urban area for ever and ever, however, there is still some work that I think needs to be done in relation to planning investigation areas and freeing up some land for affordability.”

Ms Adair acknowledged that the WAPC had improved transparency in the planning space through tis phase two reforms, but more could be done to include developers in the conversation.

“We would like to be able to sit in … [and] … listen to the debate that's being held that leads to the decision outcomes, so [we] understand the decision making.”

Ms Adair was referring to Metropolitan Region Scheme amendments, which define land uses of Perth and surrounds.

Ms Adair said a review of the WAPC’s approach to amendments to planning schemes to ensure that local authorities adopted changes to state level schemes would aid developers.

“If you do an amendment of the metropolitan region scheme, there are provisions that already exist within the regulatory system that allow for a concurrent approval of the local scheme [are] hardly ever applied,” he said.

“When you've been through a thorough and rigorous environmental investigation as part of an MRS, it's not done [and] it frustrates the developers, it actually holds up the system.

“In some cases, you end up with recalcitrant local authorities that have no interest in amending their schemes, and so frustrate and delay and delay.”

WAPC chair David Caddy signalled the WAPC was discussing ways to smooth the process between MRS amendments and local planning schemes.

“There are some serial offenders, there's no doubt about that, in terms of local governments that resist current amendments,” he said.

He said the WAPC recently debated the issue on two occasions in recent weeks.

“In both cases, the decision was made to actually have a concurrent amendment so upon gazettal the outcome of the regional scheme amendment, the local scheme will automatically be amended to a development zone from the rural side.

“And that is an attitude that I am promoting as far as the WAPC is concerned.”

Ms Adair welcomed Mr Caddy’s move to smooth the process.

Recently, Satterley Property Group and Qube lodged a submission with the City of Kwinana to amend its local planning scheme to align with the MRS, which rezoned the area as urban in 2018.

The city’s councillors refused the application, but Planning Minister Rita Saffioti stepped in to direct the local government to change its scheme to align with the state’s one.

The decision meant the property giant’s proposal to expand its Mandogalup development, adjacent to Kwinana’s Alcoa refinery, was one step closer.

Mr Caddy indicated that there was potential to expedite this process if the WAPC amendment is applied.

Infill

Ms Adair said despite the government’s progress on infill policies, there was still a lot of work to do to convince local communities of its merits.

“Everyone … can pick up a local paper and hear that the local discontent towards infill,” she said.

“We’ve got a long way to go into bring the community on board with it, and to accept and understand that there are benefits to having infill in your area, you don’t have to lose the character of an area, you can actually improve on what you already have in existence.”

She added that the current planning process was at risk of becoming democratic, which it should not be. 

“It is actually about leadership, and it's about taking risks and taking informed and good decisions.”