The Property Council WA has welcomed the State Government's decision to extend the SDAU for an additional 18 months.
Property Council WA Executive Director, Sandra Brewer, said the popularity of the SDAU pathway presented a clear opportunity to extend the program and welcomed the Government's decision to do so.
"The high number of SDAU applications from hospitals to housing, recreation to retail and sophisticated mixed-use developments, demonstrates a clear opportunity to provide a dedicated planning pathway for projects that will deliver long term benefits for the WA community.
"The creation of the SDAU process has proven to be a sage decision, providing the industry with an opportunity to present development proposals that offered significant community value by providing a pathway for developments which do not fit neatly into the standard planning framework, or in many cases, outdated planning frameworks," Ms Brewer said
Ms Brewer said the specialist planning unit, created initially to drive investment and construction activity through the uncertainty of the pandemic, had delivered above expectation and highlighted the need for a pathway to consider projects which offer unique urban renewal opportunities in key activity centres across Perth.
"The SDAU has many benefits, the most valuable process change has been the active management of referral agencies by the SDAU," Ms Brewer remarked.
"Decisions are made by the WA Planning Commission, which brings together the leaders of Departments responsible for infrastructure, including water, roads and the environment. This has been a breakthrough in the way complex, large scale projects are assessed," Ms Brewer remarked.
"Referral delays and red tape are extremely costly. The Property Council has estimated that if costs incurred by the state's property industry were to represent just one per cent of the value of building permits in the first six months of 2021, they would exceed $80 million.
"The Property Council congratulates Minister Saffioti on extending the operation of the SDAU.
"The extension will continue to allow the WA planning system to be more responsive to innovation and provide a pathway for projects capable of positively reshaping the state," Ms Brewer concluded.
