New: UDIA position paper on alternative water sources
UDIA State Council met last night to discuss a range of issues impacting on the industry. The Council endorsed a position paper entitled Alternative Water Sources: Irrigation of the Public Realm that was drafted by the UDIA Urban Water Committee alternative water source subcommittee with input from the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER).
The paper outlines recommended actions to foster the implementation of AWS across the Perth and Peel region including providing security of supply for developments where groundwater is fully allocated or constrained; identifying a suitable governance model; establishment of a state wide headworks strategy; reducing demand for groundwater and advocating for more effective integration of non-potable water supply planning into land use planning.
The position paper will be presented to the Ministers for Water, Planning and DWER Director General Greg Rowe for consideration.
Infrastructure Contributions joint submission
UDIA and the Property Council will prepare a joint submission on the draft SPP 3.6 Infrastructure Contributions in order to provide a united position to government on the issues.
The WAPC released the draft SPP in July 2019 and UDIA was actively involved in the drafting process via the Technical Advisory Group that was established 18 months ago. While industry is generally supportive of the draft policy it is important that we maintain a strong position on behalf of industry to ensure that the best outcomes are achieved.
Strata Titles – termination of schemes
UDIA has been very supportive of the state government’s strata reform process to date and the level of engagement led by Landgate in developing the relevant legislation and regulations. Our recent submission in relation to the Strata Regulations, and specifically termination of schemes, did raise some concerns.
The draft regulations in their current form could lead to high costs associated with fulfilling the requirements in order to terminate a scheme. In fact they are such that the development industry is unlikely to propose a scheme termination under Part 14 of the draft Regulations.
This is particularly concerning because, in addition to the fact that many old strata buildings and schemes have been poorly maintained and have insufficient sinking funds, many schemes are located in areas that have been identified by both the State and local governments as suitable for increased levels of development, including within train station precincts, activity centres and other high value amenity areas.
UDIA has suggested that more extensive industry consultation should take place in order to develop regulations that will be more effective in governing the termination of schemes.
Our submission can be downloaded here.
UDIA membership and stakeholder engagement
UDIA has engaged an external consultant to undertake a detailed member and stakeholder research project in order to provide a benchmark for our organisational performance from a members perspective. It will also be an opportunity to seek detailed feedback from key government stakeholders in the lead up to the State Election in 2021.
The initial stakeholder surveys will be sent out to member in the coming weeks and we encourage as many members as possible to participate so that we can ensure we are providing the best possible service.
City of Wanneroo urban water management
UDIA has provided a submission on behalf of members to the City of Wanneroo’s Draft Amended Local Planning Policy 4.4 – Urban Water Management. Overall, our submission commends the city for seeking to maintain its guiding policies however we encourage the City to focus on developing a policy which focuses more on desired outcomes rather than prescriptive requirements.
By focusing on outcomes rather than methods, the policy will remain relevant for longer and in the face of other changing processes, policies and guidelines.
Our detailed submission can be found here.
Red tape adding to cost of housing
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has released research that shows half of the cost of a house and land package in Sydney is ‘red tape and taxes’.
HIA commissioned the Centre for International Economics to perform a bottom-up investigation of the magnitude of the taxes and red tape in housing costs. The assessment found that 10 per cent of all government revenue is raised from taxes on housing.
According to HIA’s Chief Economist, stamp duty on the land and the house, GST, land tax, council rates, payroll, income and company taxes combine to raise almost $180,000 in taxes on a typical new house and land package. This does not include the additional $40,000 in development charges or the $220,000 due to red tape.
Read more here.
We value your feedback:
UDIA is currently working on several submissions on behalf of members. We encourage you to forward any feedback on these items to policy@udiawa.com.au
- DWER issues paper ‘Waste not, want not: valuing waste as a resource’ out for comment (here). Submissions close Wednesday 4 September, 2019.
- Draft State Planning Policy 3.6 – Infrastructure contributions (here). Submissions close Monday 2 September, 2019.
Site security update
Offenders have set fire to 4 Portable toilets on building sites on the same street in Wildwood Estate Carramar and extensive amounts of electrical and mains cable has been cut from walls and ceiling on two occasions from the same site in Ellenbrook.
With recent increased burglary reports over the past 2 weeks PACT Site Security recommends builders delay delivery of goods to site, especially white goods, until just prior to installation and avoid deliveries of uninstalled goods that will be onsite over weekends.
If you witness suspicious activity onsite call 1800 272 836 or report online to: https://app.pactsitesecurity.com.au/mopreport. For more news on building and construction industry crime click here https://www.pactsitesecurity.com.au/news
Macquarie Built Environment Survey
The Macquarie built environment industry sentiment and performance survey is now open. The purpose of this study is to get the opinions on the direction of the built environment in Australia, challenges and opportunities and to provide focus on business performance.
The survey is primarily aimed at architects and designers, engineers, surveyors, certifiers and town/ urban planners.
The survey will take around 10 minutes to complete. Visit here.