The City of Swan thanks the local community for having their say on a policy that will guide development and planning decisions in the historic town of Guildford.
The draft Local Planning Policy for the Guildford Heritage Area outlines development requirements, strengthens obligations to protect local heritage and reinforces the City's position against demolishing structures that contribute to the cultural heritage significance of the area.
Between April 1 and July 1 the City invited the community to provide comment on the new policy, via social media and newspaper advertisements, eNewsletter notifications, posters, distributed flyers and digital signage.
This consultation period included an online survey, letters and email invitations to comment as well as two community drop-in sessions.
The City also held three key stakeholder workshops in which the National Trust, Swan-Guildford Historical Society, Guildford Association, South West Land and Sea Council and Transition Town Guildford were invited.
City of Swan Mayor David Lucas said in total the City had received 40 submissions from the community and State agencies on the draft policy via survey response, workshop notes, email and five responses from government agencies.
"The City thanks everyone for their contribution to the draft policy and is currently reviewing submissions," he said.
"The policy will be brought back to Council for consideration in late 2022."
Guildford Historic Town was added to the State Register of Heritage Places by the Heritage Council of WA (HCWA) in 2019, formally recognising the historical significance of Guildford to Western Australia.
This offers the whole of Guildford Townsite protection under the Heritage Act 2018 and means all development applications will be referred to the HCWA for comment.
The new policy will respond to Guildford's heritage status and expand upon the provisions of the current Guildford Conservation Policy to protect the character of Guildford in accordance with current local planning requirements.
