Council, planners at odds over Nedlands proposal

The City of Nedlands and the planning consultancy it engaged are at odds over whether a $13 million mid-rise development in Perth’s western suburbs should have been approved.

Last week, the City of Nedlands asked the Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) to reconsider the approval it had given a development application, filed by urban planning consultancy element, to build a six-storey development across two lots on Broadway.

The proposal features an office tenancy, residential lobby, 36 apartments, and 71 car parking bays, which would be built across a site with a combined area of 1,760 square metres.

In its rationale, the council cited concerns about the impact the development could have on the privacy of neighbouring residents, severe overshadowing of the properties to the south, and potential adverse impacts on the amenity and character of the area.

The resolution of the council appeared to back nearby residents, more than 40 of whom raised concerns of a similar nature during the public consultation period.

The city engaged Atlus Planning as its town planner to prepare the responsible authority report in a bid to avoid any potential conflicts of interest as architectural firm Hassell, which was responsible for preparing the development plans, had also been engaged by the city to undertake a local context and built form modelling analysis of the Broadway Precinct.

However, in their assessment of the proposal, Altus’s town planning officers deemed it to be generally consistent with the current planning framework and the intended scale of future development in the area, recommending that the JDAP approve the application subject to a suite of conditions.

Officers said the concerns around overshadowing and visual privacy had been addressed via planter box design solutions and additional privacy screening and that the refusal of the application would be contrary to orderly and proper planning of the area.

The application is expected to be considered by the Metro Inner-North JDAP during a meeting next week.