Town Planning Scheme Review
Town Planning Schemes are required to be reviewed every 5 years to ensure that they are kept up to date. The Shire of Pingelly Local Planning Scheme No. 3 was originally gazetted in 2008. It has been amended several times since then in 2012, 2013 and 2018. These were minor amendments addressing particular issues at the time. A comprehensive review of the Town Planning Scheme has not been completed since the Scheme's gazettal in 2008. The review is now well overdue.
The Town Planning Scheme is formed by two documents - the Scheme Text and the Scheme Maps.
- Amendment 6 reviews the Scheme Text
- Amendment 7 reviews the Scheme Maps
Since 2008 there have been substantial changes in Pingelly and also notably the introduction of the Planning and Development Regulations 2015. These regulations introduced the following two major changes:
- The 'Model Scheme Text' - a legislated template that must be followed by all Town Planning Schemes across Western Australia to provide greater consistency across the State. The introduction of the Model Scheme Text means that there are sections that must be included within the Town Planning Scheme and that the Pingelly's Scheme must be amended to include them. This Model also introduced new definitions, which means that zones are now required to be called by different names.
- The 'Deemed Provisions' - removing large sections of all Town Planning Schemes across Western Australia as these sections are now included within the Regulations instead.
Substantial changes have been made to the Town Planning Scheme as a result of these major changes to legislation as well as to modernise and simplify both the text and maps.
Amendment 6
This amendment was initiated by Council for consultation in November 2022. It is proposed to modify the Local Planning Scheme No.3 text to:
- Ensure consistency with the deemed provisions in Schedule 2 of the Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015 (the ‘Regulations’);
- Ensure consistency with Schedule 1 - Model provisions for local planning schemes (Model Scheme Text) in the Regulations;
- Update the Zoning Table;
- Introduce provisions relating to contemporary planning matters;
- Ensure zone and reserve names are consistent with the Regulations; and
- Review opportunities to create an effective and efficient local planning system.
Please see the links to the Amendment 6 Consultant's Report and Proposed Scheme Text (with track changes).
NB that the Proposed Scheme Text document above is colour coded as follows:
- Aqua highlighted text are from the Model Scheme Text (and therefore cannot be changed);
- Green highlighted text are proposed new provisions; and
- White text are retained provisions from current Town Planning Scheme document.
Amendment 7
This amendment was initiated by Council for consultation in December 2022. It is proposed to modify the Local Planning Scheme No.3 maps to achieve the following objectives:
- Provide more serviced residential land within in the Pingelly townsite by providing opportunities for both infill residential development and new development.
- Consolidate the town centre to focus commercial activity within the centre rather than diluted across a wider area. This consolidation provides scope for a corresponding increase in residentially zoned land. The vast majority of land proposed to be rezoned to residential is currently used for residential purposes.
- Remove the ‘Development’ zone and rezone these areas to Residential, Industry and Rural Residential. The 'Development' zone required landowners to prepare a structure plan for their land prior to development. Preparing a structure plan would typically cost $80,000 - $120,000.
Please see the links to the Amendment 7 Consultant's Report and Proposed Scheme Amendment Maps.
NB that the Proposed Scheme Amendment Maps above only include proposed changes. The white areas denote no proposed changes.
Review Process
The key stages in the amendment process are summarised below:
- Initiated by Council (completed);
- Referred to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) for assessment and approval to proceed to consultation (completed);
- Public consultation for at least 42 days (6 weeks) (ongoing);
- Consultation with various State government departments and agencies (ongoing);
- Adoption by Council including any modifications arising from steps 3 and 4. Or alternatively if major modifications are required, return to step 2;
- Endorsement by the Western Australian Planning Commission with or without changes; and
- Gazettal (this is publishing the whole document in the government newspaper).
Approval to proceed to consultation for both amendments was received from the EPA in June 2023. Public and government consultation has now commenced (July 2023).
Have Your Say
The formal consultation was open for more than 6 weeks and advertised widely. The consultation period has now closed.