Fremantle councillor Rachel Pemberton cringes over Perth’s cookie-cutter zoning laws.
A THWARTED bid to break into the housing market has Fremantle councillor Rachel Pemberton calling for a rethink of WA’s zoning laws.
Cr Pemberton and a few mates wanted to buy a block in the ‘burbs and split it into smaller lots, with green space in between.
But they were stymied by R-Codes which she said would have forced them into building a single house bigger than any of them needed, with just a granny flat out the back.
“At this moment, we are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy about what the market wants. There is a fallacy that everyone wants a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house.”
She says creating sellable mini-blocks in the suburbs will bring a raft of benefits, including more affordable and sustainable housing.
She says not everyone who wants to live in a small home wants a city apartment, arguing more diversity creates stronger, more resilient communities, with singles, childless couples and retirees mixing it with families.
Mandating green spaces would combat the heat island effect created by current sub-division rules, which demand paved and concreted driveways.
“We have so many hard surfaces that reflect and don’t absorb the heat,” she says.
“We put undue stress on our drainage infrastructure, as opposed to when we used to have gardens and things that would soak it in.”
A sticking point is car parking and Cr Pemberton says people’s expectations must change.
“I think it’s an absolute tragedy that we eliminate good places and affordable housing and living spaces based on our treatment of cars.
“We need to accept the fact we may not get to park directly outside of our house.”
But the head of the WA’s chief planning body says the mix is right already.
“The [R-Codes] currently provide local government with the flexibility to provide the full range of choices for housing type and design, to meet the needs of their community,” says WA planning director-general Eric Lumsden. “Local government should ensure that it uses the most appropriate mix of codes in its local planning scheme to meet the needs of existing and intended future communities.”
He says R60 coding allows for single homes, villas, townhouses and apartments to co-exist.
But if that’s the case, the concept doesn’t appear to be filtering out to big developers. The Chook checked out five of the latest land releases in WA, including offerings from Mirvac, Stockland, Australand, Peet and MMJ Real Estate’s Eliza Ponds Estate in Spearwood. In each the lot sizes are in the 300sqm to 400sqm bracket with nary a sliver of green between them.
by BROOKE KOVANDA and STEVE GRANT