The state government has gone ahead with a long mooted merger of its land development authorities, creating a powerful new state-wide agency in a move welcomed by the property industry.
The state government has gone ahead with a long mooted merger of its land development authorities, creating a powerful new state-wide agency in a move welcomed by the property industry.
The new agency will incorporate the activities of LandCorp and the East Perth and Subiaco redevelopment authorities.
Property Council of Australia -WA executive director Joe Lenzo said the consolidated authority would prove beneficial to specific planning projects.
"We see [the redevelopment agency] as a positive step to get faster and more efficient approvals for areas bogged down under the current planning system," he said.
Mr Lenzo told WA Business News the agency would help with projects that have proven difficult to develop due to local government concerns.
"The new authority will only work for specific projects in specific areas," he said.
"There has to be a reason why it has been called outside of the normal planning process."
Mr Lenzo highlighted Coogee Beach as an example where the new redevelopment authority would prove useful due to the continuing disagreement between local governments over the development.
Earlier today, Planning and Infrastructure minister Alannah MacTiernan said the new agency would combine the skills and expertise of all three entities and allow them to be deployed across the state on key government projects.
"The new authority will bring together highly skilled professionals, planners, urban designers, architects, project managers, remediation specialists and financial analysts," Ms MacTiernan said.
The minister said that in future, when the state and local community want to revitalise a degraded area, project boards would be set up under the umbrella of the new authority.
"These boards will be similar in composition to existing redevelopment authority boards and will exercise local planning powers," she said.
"Basically we will be doing what we do now, but in a smarter and more efficient way, drawing on the new agency's pool of experts."
Ms MacTiernan said this would build on the success of redevelopment authorities, which were first established in the 1980s and were now widespread across Australia.
"These authorities have a proven record in achieving exceptional planning and development outcomes, often in challenging environments," she said.
"Degraded and under-utilised areas like East Perth have been given new life and vigour, providing local benefit but also ensuring that the larger cities in which they are situated are more sustainable.
"At the heart of their success in WA has been the streamlining of planning processes and the combining of development and planning approvals in one agency."
Ms MacTiernan said other geographic areas would benefit from the concentrated focus of redevelopment authorities, but under current regimes this would need a new bureaucracy to be established and new legislation to be enacted for each project.
"This is a very protracted process and also leads to a fragmentation of the skill base needed to make the projects a success," she said.
"The new authority will allow us to better attract and retain creative and competent staff, allowing their skills to be utilised across a range of projects."
