Planning Minister Rita Saffioti today announced major structural changes to the State's Development Assessment Panel system, reducing the number of panels from nine to five and reappointing selected specialist members.
In line with the McGowan Government's Action Plan for Planning Reform, this change is an interim step to reduce the number of panels further to a maximum of three and help simplify and improve Western Australia's planning system.
Development Assessment Panels (DAPs) are unique to Western Australia, enhancing planning expertise with technical advice and local knowledge to inform decision making.
The new five-panel configuration will enhance governance standards and facilitate greater consistency and transparency in decision-making. The streamlined panels will be:
- City of Perth;
- Metro Inner-North;
- Metro Inner-South;
- Metro Outer; and
- Regional.
New boundaries, which will take effect from April 27, 2020, will not impact the role of local government membership with measures being put in place to ensure continuity of local representation and management of existing applications.
The changes to DAPs follow a number of other planning system improvements implemented by the McGowan Government, including Design WA guidelines to ensure infill and new apartments are built to higher standards.
More information about the new panels is available at https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/daps
As stated by Planning Minister Rita Saffioti:
"The McGowan Government is working hard to implement a strong agenda to modernise our planning system, which includes structural, procedural and governance changes to the Development Assessment Panel system.
"Adopting a streamlined structure for these panels is a positive change that will create a more robust and accountable system that promotes community and industry confidence.
"Development Assessment Panels are a valuable collaboration between State and local government, stakeholders and the community to deliver great places for people, and they will continue to play an important role in shaping the future of our State.
"The changes announced today address a number of long-standing concerns to increase efficiency and consistency of these decision-making bodies.
"These changes are among the most significant to flow from the planning reform agenda and will be complemented by further initiatives to come that focus on improving transparency and community engagement.
"We are committed to creating communities that are vibrant, well-designed and provide for growth and opportunity for many years to come, and these new-look Development Assessment Panels have an important role to play to realise that vision.
"I thank outgoing members for their service and encourage those members reappointed to remain focused on the next important phase of rebuilding our communities as we recover from the impacts of COVID-19."
