FAQs

A Local Planning Strategy is a requirement of the Planning and Development Act (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015. The City must prepare a Local Planning Strategy to provide the strategic basis for a new Local (Town) Planning Scheme.  Local Planning Strategies must:

(a) set out the long-term planning directions for the local government; and

(b) apply any State or regional planning policy that is relevant to the strategy; and

(c) provide the rationale for any zoning or classification of land under the local planning scheme.

It is informed by and implements the vision and aspirations of the City’s Strategic Community Plan.

The City workshopped with community and key stakeholders in 2017-18. Feedback was sought to identify the key issues needing to be addressed in the strategy. 

Council adopted the draft Local Planning Strategy at the 8 October 2020  meeting, and it was subsequently referred to the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) for certification and consent to advertise.

At their meeting on 14 June 2022, the WAPC Statutory Planning Committee (SPC) certified the Draft City of Cockburn Local Planning Strategy for advertising, subject to modifications.

The draft Local Planning Strategy is now being advertised for public comment until 21 November 2022.

Until the new Local Planning Strategy is endorsed by the WAPC the current version remains in place.

The Local Planning Strategy guides how the City will manage growth and change in land use and development over the next 10 to 15 years.  It has several major functions, including:

• Guiding preparation of a new local planning scheme and local planning policies that will replace Town Planning Scheme No.3.
• Providing guidance to the preparation of more detailed local area plans (ie. Precinct Structure Plans, Local Development Plans etc.). 
• Applies the WA Planning Commission’s suite of State Planning Policies where relevant, and demonstrates how the City will accommodate its infill dwelling targets as set out in the WA Planning Commission’s Perth and Peel Sub-Regional Planning Framework (WAPC, 2018).

The Local Planning Strategy will not change the current zoning or development potential of any properties, but it does recommend changes to the local planning framework and the high-level planning direction and vision for some areas that may result in changes to development requirements and the types of uses that are allowed when the new Local Planning Scheme is prepared.  The draft Local Planning Scheme will also be subject to community consultation in the future.

The City will analyse all submissions and may propose modifications to the Local Planning Strategy.   A schedule of submissions will be presented to a Council meeting for consideration, and the draft Local Planning Strategy will then be forwarded to the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) for final endorsement. 

The draft Local Planning Strategy has been informed by the community engagement results from the advertising of key issues papers, 8 Local Planning Strategy Workshops held in 2018, and the consultation from Revitalisation Strategies and the ‘Better Neighbourhoods, Better Homes’ project. 

The Local Planning Strategy must be consistent with the WA Government's planning framework, including the Metropolitan Region Scheme (MRS) Perth and Peel @3.5million, and State Planning Policies.

The WA Government (Western Australian Planning Commission) will make the final decision to endorse the Local Planning Strategy.

Comments can be made in writing:

• Online at comment.cockburn.wa.gov.au/draft-LPS
• In writing to PO Box 1215, Bibra Lake WA 6965 
• Email [email protected] 
• Via hard copy submission form available at City of Cockburn Administration (9 Coleville Crescent, Spearwood) or a City of Cockburn Library

At this stage the timeframes are unknown, as a decision of WAPC will be required after the strategy has been considered by Council.

Following Council adoption of the draft Strategy in October 2020, the Strategy was lodged with the Department for Planning, Lands and Heritage for assessment against Regulation 11(2) of the Planning and Development Act (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015.   The Department made requests for refinement of the Strategy during their assessment.  In addition, the Western Australian Planning Commission’s (WAPC) Statutory Planning Committee granted conditional certification (permission for public advertising) subject to further changes.

The future land supply needs of Perth (to 2031 and beyond) are identified in the Western Australian Planning Commission’s (WAPC) Perth and Peel @ 3.5 million, and the underlying South Metropolitan Peel Sub-Regional Planning Framework (March 2018).  It provides a framework for accommodating Perth’s growing population. 

The MRS is the WA Government's zoning for the Perth metropolitan region. It classifies land into broad zones and reservations and is administered by the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC).  Local Planning Schemes are required to be consistent with the MRS.