Perth Voice Interactive

NEW powers granted to unelected state government planning bureaucrats have elected councils up in arms.

Councils say the changes — quietly introduced by the Barnett government in November — mean they no longer have any control over the density of new developments.

That authority has been handed to unelected bureaucrats in the WA planning commission, who are unaccountable to the affected communities.

“The ability for local governments to determine whether a structure plan is in the best interests of the community is now non-existent,” is how Cockburn council planning boss Daniel Arndt bluntly described the impact.

“Whereas the city previously could impose a pre-requisite test to determine whether a structure plan complied with orderly and proper planning prior to advertising, the new process means the city has little input into the quality or appropriateness of structure plans.

“The local government’s role has been reduced to simply a referral agency.”

Residents who could previously call their local ward councillor to object to neighbouring subdivisions must now try to navigate their way to an unelected and faceless bureaucrat in the WAPC’s Perth city headquarters.

The new rules were implemented in November and their impact is already being felt.

Last August, Cockburn council rejected an application by a developer to amend a structure plan at the Port Coogee marin by rezoning a parcel from R25 to R40. Following the November change, the developer has resubmitted the same plan—which will now be determined by the WAPC, not the council.

Fremantle council also objected to the new rules but says the WAPC has always had some power in determining structure plans.

“In submissions made by the City of Fremantle when local governments were consulted on the new regulations in their draft form in early 2015, the city expressed some concern that certain aspects … could erode the ability of local governments to take account of distinctive local character and patterns of development…,” said strategic planning manager Paul Garbett.

by STEVE GRANT