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

Councils say the changes — 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 to the Herald.

“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 councillor to object to 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 MW Urban to amend a structure plan of three lots inside Port Coogee. The developer wanted to rezone some of the parcel from R25 to R40.

At the time, deputy mayor Kevin Allen flayed both developers and the WA government over the litany of broken promises at Port Coogee.

“I accept that most developments are dynamic,” he’d railed. “However, this development seems to be more dynamic than most and the changes that are occurring in my opinion and in the opinion of many of our ratepayers are not for the best.

“Proponents within Port Coogee have used statutory bodies such as the WAPC and SAT to make substantial changes to gold-plated commitments they made to the council of the day.

“The community has lost its fishing platforms with all ability access, the groyne walls were supposed to be perfectly flat for the community to walk along and enjoy strolls whilst taking in the view, the bandstand/ concert stages have disappeared.

“The proponents have treated this development like an onion and are peeling back commitment after commitment or promise after promise and our prize-winning onion will now be lucky to make it to the pickling jar.”

The council rejected the rezoning bid but following the November change, MW Urban has resubmitted the same plan—which will now be determined by the WAPC, not the council.

Neighbouring Fremantle council also objected to the new rules but says the WAPC has always had some power in determining structure plans: its criticisms appear far more muted than Cockburn’s.

“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…,” strategic planning manager Paul Garbett told the Herald.

Mr Garbett says the blueprint for the old Matilda Bay Brewery site in North Fremantle falls under the new planning regime, as its structure plan was lodged in January. The council conducted the consultation and will make a recommendation to the WAPC, but the planning authority is under no obligation to follow Fremantle’s advice.

by STEVE GRANT