UDIA In Action
Our Policy and Research team has been busy this week with the release of the latest edition of our monthly Urban Intelligence report to members (available here), lodging a submission on the draft regulations to support the Community Titles Act (available here) and continuing with the latest round of committee meetings including the Land Use Planning Committee meeting on Tuesday.
Our Policy Director Chris Green also met with senior representatives from DWER to discuss strategic water issues and the Medium Density Advisory Group analysed the new Medium Density Residential Design Code documents in detail.
Our events team were extremely proud to close off a successful event calendar for 2020 with the End of Year Sundowner last Thursday, turning on some magic weather to complement the fantastic location at Nedlands Yacht Club. A big thanks to sponsors and supporters of our events throughout the year!
Draft Community Titles Submission delivered
On Wednesday, UDIA WA delivered a new submission to Landgate in response to the draft regulations to support the Community Titles Act 2018.
The establishment of Community Titles is key to enabling the development industry to respond more effectively to WA’s changing demographics, evolving lifestyle preferences and emerging environmental challenges by supporting greater innovation, and more diverse housing options.
Therefore, it is imperative that the Community Titles framework is robust and provides confidence to potential purchasers of community title property whilst also offering a flexible and attractive development framework to industry.
UDIA WA provided a highly detailed submission in response to the draft regulations and whilst we are highly supportive of this type of land tenure, we acknowledge that due to the unfamiliarity of this form of land tenure amongst regulators, the development industry and the community, unforeseen issues are likely to arise.
Therefore, UDIA WA has strongly recommended that the Regulations and Act be reviewed within three years of the regulations coming into effect and that regular reviews of the performance and effectiveness of the Community Titles Act, Regulations and supporting policy controls are undertaken.
As well as being undertaken frequently, it is important that these performance reviews are holistic, gathering feedback from all stakeholders involved, including the development industry.
For more information and to read our submission in full, click here.
Aboriginal and Dual Naming Guidelines
Geographical features and places in Western Australia were named by Aboriginal peoples long before the arrival of non-Aboriginal people. These names aren’t arbitrary – they are attached to an Aboriginal group’s understanding of its history, culture, rights and responsibilities to the lands.
In order to provide the broader community with greater understanding of the process and requirements for applying Aboriginal names Landgate has worked closely with key stakeholders across government and industry to develop the Aboriginal and Dual Naming Guidelines.
For more information about the Guidelines, click here.
Latest Industry Statistics released
On Tuesday, UDIA WA released the latest edition of our Urban Intelligence report which details the key stats and trends impacting the urban development industry.
This month’s edition features an article from UDIA WA Director Policy and Research Chris Green who highlights the key reasons why WA is the ideal place to live, work and invest. This is also the core message behind our recently released #liveworkinvestWA State Election campaign. For more information on this, click here.
To access the latest edition of the Urban Intelligence, click here.
UDIA gets insight on medium density
UDIA took part in DPLH’s Medium Density Advisory Group Meeting last week, which was followed with a presentation by the Department to UDIA’s land use planning committee on Tuesday. At the sessions, DPLH provided an overview of the policy and the feasibility and planning/design testing that has been undertaken as part of the draft Code’s preparation.
At the Advisory Group meeting, DPLH also provided an outline of the community engagement program that will be undertaken prior to the finalisation of the Design Code. UDIA greatly appreciates the opportunities provided by DPLH to discuss the policy and invites members wishing to provide feedback to inform UDIA submission on the draft Code to policy@udiawa.com.
More information regarding the code and the testing undertaken can be found here
Liberals release plan for a Smarter, Cleaner Transport Future
This week new WA Liberal Party leader Zak Kirkup announced the Liberals will deliver a $60 million Plan for a Smarter, Cleaner Transport Future featuring electric, hydrogen and automated vehicle initiatives to support the rollout of emerging and future transport technologies.
Within the plan, the Liberals will commit to the following smarter, cleaner transport infrastructure and vehicle initiatives:
- $24 million Electric Vehicle Network Rollout with 138 fast charging electric stations over 61 sites across Western Australia.
- $2 million Hydrogen Vehicle Network
- $9 million Hydrogen Fuelling Station Partnership. Working with industry, this initiative represents the first stage of the Hydrogen Vehicle Network rollout and underpins the take up of hydrogen vehicles.
- $5 million Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Grants Program.
In addition, the Liberals will commit to the following smarter, cleaner vehicle rebates to encourage vehicle uptake:
- $5 million Electric and Hydrogen Passenger Vehicle Stamp Duty Rebate – the Liberals will provide stamp duty rebates of up to $4,000 for new electric and hydrogen passenger vehicle purchases over the next five years.
- $3 million Electric and Hydrogen Commercial Vehicle Rebates – the Liberals will provide stamp duty rebates up to $10,000 for 150 electric commercial vehicles and 150 hydrogen commercial vehicles over the next five years.
Finally, the Liberals will commit to the following planning, oversight and research and development initiatives for a smarter, cleaner transport future:
- $2 million Future Transport Technology Roadmap, designed to prepare Western Australia for the rapidly changing vehicle technologies, including connected and automated vehicles.
- $10 million Office of Future Transport Technology, a dedicated and permanent team within the Department of Transport tasked with the planning of future technologies.
UDIA WA is supportive of initiatives to provide for a cleaner future and looks forward to engaging with all political parties on best ways to adapt to a changing climate, as per one of our recommendations in our #liveworkinvestWA State Election campaign. More information here.
Key announcements for East Wanneroo and the Swan Valley
This week saw two big announcements from Planning Minister Rita Saffioti, the first in relation to the approval of the East Wanneroo District Structure Plan, with the second relating to the Swan Valley Planning Act 2020 passing Parliament to soon become law.
The East Wanneroo District Structure Plan will provide a 50-year vision for urban growth, catering for 150,000 residents and creating up to 20,000 jobs and provides certainty for a generation of market gardeners, hobby farmers and long-term rural residents to realise the value of their investment, while making way for the development of new communities and families moving into the area.
Encompassing parts of Wanneroo, Mariginiup, Gnangara, Jandabup and Pinjar, the structure plan provides for 50,000 new dwellings, a district town centre, six schools, and more than 2,000ha of parkland and regional sporting fields.
The district structure plan will be released in its final form once the strategy for managing the area’s sensitive water resources has been given final approval by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.
In passing Parliament the Swan Valley Planning Act 2020 is set to create a simpler and more streamlined process for planning decisions in the region through three key approaches:
- a new bespoke planning scheme to replace the existing dual use planning scheme system;
- new decision-making body, Swan Valley Statutory Planning Committee, a sub-committee of the Western Australian Planning Commission, to determine development applications;
- a new local leadership group to provide advice to the Planning Minister on strategic matters.
There have been 82 submissions received from the community on the first draft of the Swan Valley Planning Scheme.
These are currently being reviewed while with another version of the scheme available in January for comment.
Draft policies, including a visual landscape assessment, will be released for public consultation once the new Swan Valley Planning Scheme has commenced.
Residential Property Price index on the rise
This week the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the residential Property Price Indexes across the eight Capital Cities in Australia, finding that weighted average rose 0.8% this quarter and rose 4.5% over the last twelve months.
Within this Perth rose 1.4% during the September quarter as well as 2.4% compared to September 2019. Perth recorded the third highest rise in the most recent quarter with only Adelaide and Brisbane recording bigger increases with 1.6% and 1.5% rises respectively. Melbourne was the only capital city to decline in the September quarter with a 0.3% decrease.
Over the last 12 months, Perth’s rise of 2.4% was the weakest rise of all capital cities with Darwin the only capital to record a decline to September 2020 with a 0.7% decrease.
The total value of residential dwellings in Australia rose $87.8b to $7,283.3b this quarter. The mean price of residential dwellings rose $5,400 to $689,500 and the number of residential dwellings rose by 44,000 to 10,562,800.
In Perth, the House Price Index rose 1.5% this quarter and rose 3.4% over the last twelve months. The Attached Dwellings Price Index in Perth also rose 1.3% this quarter but fell 1.4% over the last twelve months.
Site Security Update
Building and construction industry crime increased in November with thieves targeting whitegoods and copper wire and cable from land development areas and building sites. For more information on this, click here.
From 1 December 2020, any businesses wishing to trade in scrap copper and copper alloy (including bronze and brass) will be required to be licenced under the Pawnbroker and Second-hand Dealer Act 1994, and the Pawnbroker and Second-hand Dealer Regulations 1996. For more information, click here.