Design WA Stage 2

This submission on the Design WA Stage 2: Precinct Plan and State Planning Policy 7.2 (SPP 7.2) has been prepared by the Committee for Perth with assistance from its Reshaping Working Group following a briefing by Departmental staff.

The Committee for Perth and members of the Reshaping Working Group generally support SPP 7.2 however, we have constructive feedback to offer as follows:

• Precinct planning needs to consider the implications of the additional stress on the existing public and private infrastructure and how these can be enhanced alongside the design of the overall precinct.
• As the findings in our landmark report, Get a Move On! (2016) revealed transport infrastructure and increased residential density go hand-in-hand and are necessary to support one another so impacts on the public transport network also need to be considered.
• Precinct planning should include all agencies from the outset so that the outcome is understood and agreed to by all.
• The community must be included in precinct planning so that they can co-design the outcome. This approach is more likely to result in widespread support of change.
• Similarly precinct planning needs to be done in a way that empowers the silent majority.
• Findings from the Committee’s case study series of reports, What We Thought Would Kill Us: Learnings and Recommendations (2019), highlighted that some of the common features that contributed to projects becoming controversial were project processes that did not provide:
  • opportunities for meaningful community feedback beyond statutory requirements; and
  • opportunities for meaningful community feedback until after a draft design or concept had been prepared.