Coles to build $29m shopping hub

The state’s peak planning body has approved Coles’ $29m plan to build a neighbourhood shopping centre in Ravenswood.

The Western Australian Planning Commission today gave the green light for the supermarket giant to build a commercial centre on the corner of Pinjarra and Old Mandurah Roads.

In the development application submitted to the state government’s Significant Development Assessment Unit pathway, Coles’ neighbourhood centre was estimated to cost $29.1 million.

The proposed development comprises a 3,575-square metre-wide supermarket, three retail tenancies, an office, and 265 car parking bays.

SDAU planning director Paola Di Perna said the Shire of Murray had concerns over the design and the location of the neighbourhood centre.

Other concerns raised during the public feedback period was the proximity of the proposed centre to an existing Coles shopping precinct in Pinjarra.

However, Ms Di Perna said the Ravenswood site has been identified for neighbourhood centre use in the shire’s commercial strategy since 1994.

WAPC chairman David Caddy said despite the shire’s concerns over the project, the development application addressed the planning framework for the area.

"It is also relevant to conclude that some observers might consider these matters to be reasonable grounds for refusing the application, the commission has concluded that these concerns have been appropriately addressed in the report of the SDAU to the commission," he said.

"Having  considered all the above matters and the SDAU assessment that details the state of the current planning framework, the commission has concluded that the proposed development could be contemplated within that framework.”

Total output, including direct and supply-chain effects from the operation of the neighbourhood centre, has been estimated to increase by up to $43 million.

In the development application, the applicant described the estimated increase as one of the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.