Planning and Development

Town Planning Schemes (TPS) make suitable provision for traffic, transportation, disposition of shops, residence, factory and other areas, and assign zones for particular types of land use.

Region Schemes assist regional planning, and usually include land within more than one local government area. Region Schemes set out broad land-use zones.

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Different land uses can be designated as permitted, prohibited, or requiring the Local Government Authority (LGA) consent. If a proposed land use conforms to permitted uses, planning approval is not required, and is usually applied for at the same time as a development approval. Land use approvals are administered by LGAs within Town Planning Schemes, and by the WAPC within Regional Schemes.

A planning approval, which determines whether a proposed land use is allowed, is not an approval to allow the development to commence.

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The Act defines 'development' to include 'demolition, erection, construction, alteration of, or addition to, any building or structure on the land, and the carrying out on the land of any excavation or other works.'

Responsibility for development approvals within TPSs resides with LGAs. WAPC has responsibility for development approvals under Region Schemes, but often delegates authority to local governments. If the Commission considers that developments may have regional significance, it may retain development control or require the LGA to refer applications to the WAPC.

The LGA may advertise the proposal for public comment (as is required for certain developments) and take public submissions into account when making a determination. If a proposal under a Region Scheme is considered by the WAPC, both WAPC and LGA approval is required before the proposal may be implemented.

In determining an application, the LGA and WAPC can allow the application as submitted, allow it subject to conditions, or refuse it. The LGA or WAPC can take proceedings to force compliance with conditions.

Following approval, a development must be carried out within the timeframe specified in the TPS, or the approval will lapse.

Appeals (to the Town Planning Appeal Tribunal) can be made against a refusal by the LGA or WAPC, or against any condition attached to an approval.

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If a development proposal has not undergone environmental assessment under Section 38 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA) (EP Act) before lodgement, the LGA or WAPC must consider whether the delvelopment should be referred to the EPA. The need for referral will be determined by the proposal's potential impact on the environment, and whether the planning scheme under which the development will take place has undergone environmental assessment.

Section 48 of the EP Act requires that TPSs and their amendments be environmentally assessed. A development is assumed to be environmentally acceptable if it meets the requirements of a planning scheme that has already been environmentally assessed. It will then be determined by the LGA without referral to the EPA.

If a development application raises environmental issues that were not considered as part of the planning scheme assessment, the development will be referred to the EPA for assessment. Similary, if a TPS has not undergone environmental assessment, and a development application raises environmental issues that have not previously been assessed by the EPA, the LGA (or WAPC) will refer the development to the EPA for assessment.

In some instances, a development may propose land uses that are not permitted under the zoning prescribed in the local Town Planning or Region Scheme. Local government, or the WAPC in the case of a Region Scheme, may create an amendment to the planning scheme to allow the proposed land use to go ahead, and the amendment is assessed under Section 48 of the EP Act.

Further information is available at the Western Australian Planning Commission website and a directory of Western Australian Local Government websites is available here.

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