State, regional and local land use planning

Page last updated: Monday, 29 July 2019 - 2:01pm

Please note: This content may be out of date and is currently under review.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development provides advice and information to land-use planners to help them consider the needs of agriculture and food sectors in their decisions. We participate in technical working groups which review and update state and regional plans and policies which affect Western Australia's agriculture and food industries.

State and regional land use planning

We provide land-use planning advice and information on:

We provide our knowledge and expertise on agricultural land-use planning when state planning policies are reviewed and updated, and we participate in planning for the growth of the Perth and Peel and other regions of Western Australia.

Four publications available from the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) guide rural and agricultural land-use planning in Western Australia:

New rural planning policies, gazetted in December 2016, now provide guidance on statewide planning for animal premises, intensive agriculture and basic raw materials.

The Department of Planning, Lands and Hertitage (DPLH) has fact sheets to help planners understand:

We worked with the DPLH to review the agriculture policy for the Peel Region Scheme. The draft policy was expanded to consider the impact of agriculture on the sensitive waterways and estuary of the Peel–Harvey. We also assisted them in their review of State Planning Policy 2.1 Peel–Harvey coastal catchment policy.

We work with the WAPC, DPLH, regional development commissions, Landcorp and others to identify new areas for agribusiness. We are working with the Peel Development Commission on the Peel Food Zone project, part of the Transform Peel Initiative.

A past example is the South West Food Processing Precinct report, prepared by Cardno (WA) Pty Ltd.  This study, commissioned by the then Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia, Landcorp and the South West Development Commission and supported by the Department of Planning, identified Waterloo near Bunbury, Western Australia as the preferred location for a future agri-industry investment in the south-west region.

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Local land-use planning

We  assist local government to develop or review plans, strategies and policies relevant to the agricultural and food industries.

We provide local governments with principles to guide decision making where proposed rural subdivision adjoins high quality agricultural land. We work with local governments when they review their planning strategies and schemes to minimise adverse impact of planning decisions on local agriculture and food industries and individual enterprises.

We provide formal comment on referred planning scheme amendments which may affect food production and processing enterprises. We seek to ensure established agricultural industries can continue to operate without sensitive nearby land uses, such as residential dwellings, compromising operations; and that new or expanded agricultural enterprises do not adversely affect nearby sensitive land uses or environments.

We have worked with local governments in the Peel region along with the Peel-Harvey Catchments Council and other state agencies to guide new investment in horticulture in the Peel-Harvey. We contributed our technical and policy expertise into Peel's model local planning policy for horticulture by interpreting regional soil-landscape mapping into a nutrient export risk table for use with the policy.

When providing advice to local government, we are guided by:

Contact information

Heather Percy
+61 (0)8 9780 6262
Tim Overheu
+61 (0)8 9892 8533