The Western Australian government has launched its latest raft of planning reforms aimed at cutting red tape, streamlining approval processes, and significantly accelerating the state’s housing and land delivery.
A key piece of the reform package expands the state’s existing single-house planning exemption to include proposals for up to four grouped homes and apartments.
Provided the developments meet baseline planning standards, proponents will only require a building permit, bypassing lengthy development approval processes.
The move builds on Western Australia’s status as the only state with a clear-cut planning exemption for single residential dwellings.
The package also targets delays in the subdivision process by introducing a strict 28-day statutory timeframe for local governments to respond to proponents following the submission of engineering drawings for roads and waterways.
Additional legislative, regulatory, and policy measures include allowing local planning and region scheme amendments to progress concurrently, potentially shaving up to 12 months off development timelines.
The reforms will also streamline structure planning, subdivision practices, and the clearance of subdivision conditions and empower the Western Australian Planning Commission to modify, progress, or cancel structure plans where necessary.
The new rules will standardise local planning schemes to ensure operational consistency across local government areas.
“Western Australia continues to lead the nation in planning reforms that boost housing supply by cutting unnecessary red tape and streamlining planning processes,” said Planning and Lands Minister John Carey.
“These changes are yet another example of the Cook Labor Government’s sustained effort to make our planning system simpler and more efficient to accelerate the delivery of housing supply.
“By expanding opportunities to progress local and region scheme amendments concurrently, we will significantly reduce the time it takes to move from rezoning to subdivision and development. These changes could cut more than a year from planning timeframes and bring forward the delivery of new homes.”
The new measures build on prior initiatives, including R-Code revisions projected to unlock 50,000 subdivisions, alongside the state’s Station Precincts program for high-density infill.
