The Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) is an independent

statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being empowered or delegated to set rules (for example re ...

of the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government o ...

that exists to coordinate strategic and statutory planning for future urban, rural and regional land use. The authority is responsible for expenditure arising from the Metropolitan Region Improvement Tax. The role of the commission is to advise the Minister for Planning, make statutory decisions on a range of planning application types, approve subdivision applications, implement the state planning framework, and prepare and review region schemes to cater for anticipated growth. All staffing is provided by the

Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

to which it also delegates many statutory powers.

History

The Planning and Development Act of 1928 established a Town Planning Board as the central authority responsible for approving subdivision and town planning schemes prepared by local government. The state’s Town Planning Commissioner David Davidson sought to expand the board responsibilities into planning for the metropolitan region as a whole—however in 1927 a separate Metropolitan Town Planning Commission was established to prepare a report on the matter of metropolitan planning, after which it was disbanded. In 1952, a second commission recommended the metropolitan planning of Perth and Fremantle leading to the appointment of Gordon Stephenson to prepare the 1955 Plan for Perth and Fremantle. This report recommended the creation of an independent authority for the implementation of a metropolitan town planning scheme. In 1959, this authority was created as the Metropolitan Regional Planning Authority (MRPA) with David Carr as the chief planner. In 1963 the

Metropolitan Region Scheme The Metropolitan Region Scheme (MRS) provides the legal basis for land use planning within the Perth metropolitan region. It classifies land into broad zones and reservations and is administered by the Western Australian Planning Commission. I ...

was adopted by the

Parliament of Western Australia The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Western Australia, forming the legislative branch of the Government of Western Australia. The parliament consists of a lower house, the Legislati ...

. The MRPA was funded by a hypothecated property tax under the MRS which gave it an independent source of revenue that allowed it to disregard Government direction.Newman, Don (1996). ''The Flight from Principle, the abandonement of the vision of the City Beautiful movement in WA.'' The Australian City - Future/Past. Melbourne. This led to its abolition in December 1985, with bi-partisan support, when the Metropolitan Regional Planning Authority became the Metropolitan Planning Council under a State Planning Commission which also absorbed the functions of the Town Planning Board. In September 1989 the State Planning Commission became an advisory and decision-making body with all staff transferred to the Department of Planning and Urban Development. It was subsequently renamed the Western Australian Planning Commission in 1995.

References

{{Authority control Statutory agencies of Western Australia Urban planning in Australia Urban planning organizations