About the Policy

The City of Cockburn is proposing a new Local Planning Policy 5.21 (LPP 5.21) - Temporary Events and invites submissions from the community. The policy aims to assist operators of temporary events (such as markets, festivals and other commercial ventures) to understand their planning requirements.

It also aims to provide exemptions for certain temporary events from the requirement to obtain development (planning) approval. Additionally, the policy establishes requirements for event operators pertaining to waste management, traffic management, acoustic attenuation and community amenity amongst other matters.

The draft policy can be viewed in the document library.

Background

Currently, there is limited guidance for event operators apart from their public health obligations. The City has one policy, Establishment of Markets on Land Owned and Controlled by the City of Cockburn. This only relates to market operators on local reserves. Draft Policy 5.21 aims to provide guidance for all event operators regardless of whether the event is held on public or private land.

At the Ordinary Council Meeting held on the 12 March 2024, the Council requested a review of the ‘Markets on Land Owned and Controlled by the City’'. The review was sought to improve the ability of market operators to establish regular market events more efficiently, reduce ‘red tape’ and to prepare a Local Planning Policy (in lieu of maintaining the existing Council Policy). The findings of the review were as follows:

1. The policy is out of date with the latest version dated 16 December 2020 and therefore may not reflect current best practice.
2. Local Planning Policies are preferred as they are managed by Development Services and subject to review every two years.
3. The policy is too specific, relating solely to a single land use (markets) rather than taking a holistic approach to the matter of temporary events and their regulation by the City.
4. The policy is not clear with regard to the differences between low and high frequency events, and what information would be required by the City for each class of frequency.
5. The policy content can be improved to avoid confusion relating to policy requirements and improve communication to the wider public, which would ideally lead to reduced assessment timeframes / reduction of ‘red tape’.

The following general feedback was received from internal stakeholders in relation to the operation of events on Council owned land:

1. Events often result in the degradation of City managed reserves, such as damage to turf surfaces. This damage impacts use of a reserve for other purposes, including leasing arrangements for various sporting clubs or general use of the reserve by residents.
2. The rectification of damages should be borne by the event holder, and provisions around bonding of damages should be considered as a policy provision.
3. Should provisions relating to bonding not be preferred, implications to the City’s budget will occur, particularly where damages are significant and require the City’s intervention.
4. Events can trigger amenity considerations relating to traffic, noise and waste. Appropriate provisions should be included in a policy to manage these issues.
5. Events often conflict with sporting clubs when undertaken on an active reserve. Provisions should be included to guide this issue.