Directions Paper - Western Australian Planning Commission

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Directions Paper on the Integration of NRM and Land Use Planningdraft report ‘The Journey: Sustainability Intothe Future’ acknowledged that the attractionand retention of appropriately qualified landuse planning staff is an issue of concern formany local governments. The majority of localgovernments outside of the Perth MetropolitanRegion and other regional centres havelimited environmental planning capacity andoften rely on consultants to support their landuse planning functions, particularly the morecomplex and time consuming activities, such aspreparing or amending local planning strategiesand schemes.The limited capacity of local governmentto support NRM through land use planningis perhaps most evident in those localgovernments with extensive peri urban areas.Peri urban areas are transitional areas betweenurban and rural land and as such represent animportant interface between NRM and land useplanning due to the significant environmentalassets they contain and the diversity of landuses that they support. Often the demand forland use change and development in peri urbanareas exceeds the resources available to Stateand local government to effectively plan for suchdevelopment.Local government is also under-resourcedfor large scale management of its naturalresources. This includes a lack of staff resourcesfor checking compliance and enforcement ofconditions of planning approvals, as well as onground management of natural resources thatare to be protected through retention in localreserves.4.2.2 Improving local governmentcapacityThere are a number of options to improvelocal government’s capacity to achieve NRMoutcomes through land use planning, includingdelivery of partnership projects, more efficientuse of local government resources, provisionof funding support and State governmentassistance.Partnership projectsThe development of partnership projectsprovides an opportunity for various stakeholdersto more efficiently and effectively engage andsupport local government to address NRMmatters through local planning strategies andschemes. WALGA, as the peak industry bodyfor local government, has played an importantrole in developing partnership projects to assistlocal governments to achieve NRM outcomesthrough land use planning. In addition to theEnviroPlanning project, WALGA is a partner in anumber of projects including biodiversity, waterand climate change projects that seek to betterintegrate consideration of those matters throughState and local government land use planningprocesses. WALGA delivers the Perth andSouth West Biodiversity Projects in partnershipwith the Perth Region and South West NRMregional groups and State government. WALGAalso partnered with DPI, DEC and DoW insourcing Commonwealth government fundingthrough the Coastal Catchments Initiative tosupport development of the Better Urban WaterManagement Framework. More recently, WALGAentered into a partnership with the DEC todeliver the Climate Change in Local Governmentproject, which seeks to build the capacity localgovernment to address climate change issues.The Climate Change in Local GovernmentProject will amongst other things, develop modelpolicies to assist local government to considerclimate change issues through their land useplanning decisions.Efficient use of local government resourcesMore efficient use of local government resourcesmight be achieved through amalgamationof local governments, formation of RegionalOrganisation of Councils, or the preparation ofregional local planning strategies.In recent years there has been some debateabout the role of amalgamation of localgovernments to overcome resource shortagesand facilitate more efficient service delivery.The advantage of amalgamations from a landuse planning perspective is that it would assist16
Directions Paper on the Integration of NRM and Land Use Planningin facilitating a more regional approach to landuse planning as local planning strategies andschemes could be prepared over a wider landarea.An alternative to the amalgamation of localgovernments is the formation of RegionalOrganisation of Councils (ROC) or VoluntaryRegional Organisation of Councils (VROC).The South East Avon Regional Organisationof Councils (SEAVROC), which consists ofthe Shires of York, Cunderdin, Quairading,Beverley and Brookton, is one such example.SEAVROC has formed a sustainable land usemanagement group with representatives fromeach of the Shires and State NRM agencies, todiscuss opportunities to improve sustainableland use management across the region. Thesustainable land use management grouprecently initiated a project, funded throughEnviroPlanning’s Local Government Partnershipprogram, to develop a local planning policyfor tree farming in low rainfall areas acrossthe five shires. The sustainable land usemanagement group has also initiated a projectto facilitate a more consistent approach to landuse planning decision making across the fiveshires. The project involves reviewing eachlocal government’s planning framework, anddeveloping a checklist, process and GIS tosupport sustainable land use planning decisionmaking across the five shires.When preparing local planning strategies,local governments could consider cooperationwith other councils within their region orcatchment to address common NRM issues.Water and biodiversity related issues are oftenbest addressed within a regional context,so cooperation between neighbouring localgovernments would provide an opportunity toimprove NRM outcomes.Recommended actions:• Explore opportunities for regionalcooperation across local governments toshare planning resources.• Seek funding from the State NRM Planand Commonwealth Government’sCaring for our Country program, andadminister funding to support localgovernment projects that addressthe integration of NRM into land useplanning.Funding support and State governmentassistanceIn recent years the EnviroPlanning project hasprovided funding assistance through a localgovernment partnership program, of whichsome $300,000 has been invested to supportachievement of NRM outcomes through landuse planning. At regional forums delivered byEnviroPlanning, local governments and otherstakeholders indicated a strong desire forcontinuation of grant funding to support land useplanning initiatives to better address NRM.The DPI in 2005/07 received funding from theWAPC for the employment of regional supportofficers to provide support to low capacity localgovernments in the preparation of local planningstrategies and schemes. Funding for the projectwas for one year only, however benefits to localgovernments included improved guidanceon the process of preparing a local planningstrategy, education forums and general supportto local governments. Whilst the structuralreview and realignment of DPI’s State andRegional Policy Division (resulting in threeplanning directorates for southern, central andnorthern regions), will potentially provide someopportunities to better support local governmentwith preparation of local planning strategiesand schemes, consideration should be givento how low capacity councils, particularlythose with extensive areas of peri urban areascan be further supported. It is suggested thatconsideration should be given to the formation17
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Directions Paper - Western Australian Planning Commission

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