Squeeze on suburbs as Perth grows
Perth and the Peel region will need to accommodate 800,000 new homes over the next 35 years as Perth grows towards a population of 3.5 million - and nearly half of them will need to be built within existing suburbs, the State's new draft planning strategy says.
The document, entitled Perth and Peel @ 3.5 million, aims to guide Perth's population growth to prevent sprawl and ensure the city remains liveable, prosperous, connected and sustainable.
"Land for residential, commercial and industrial development is a finite resource and Perth and Peel cannot sustain a widespread pattern of development, based on historical and traditional notions of what constitutes a household, a home and a community," the document says.
"While this growth brings enormous opportunities, it also increases demand on the State's resources, social and physical infrastructure, services and natural environment - today and in the future."
The report notes that 15 per cent of jobs in the Perth-Peel region are in central Perth, West Perth, East Perth and Northbridge, but just 2 per cent of the population lives in those suburbs. Forty per cent of people who work in central Perth live in the outer suburbs.
Planning Minister John Day said this would require a shift in thinking by the community.
"I think more and more people are now seeing issues about traffic congestion, the need for expansion of public transport services, the high financial and other social costs of those sort of issues . . . essentially we need diversity of choice for people," he said.
WA Planning Commission chairman Eric Lumsden hailed the strategy as a new Stephenson-Heburn plan, a reference to the 1950s plan for Perth that guided the development of the metropolitan area.
"We now have a framework which gives very clear direction and certainty to a wide range of members of the community - those who are interested in conservation of the environment, those who want to contain urban sprawl, as well as catering for diverse household sizes," Mr Lumsden said.
Shadow planning minister Rita Saffioti said the Government had failed to meet its own infill targets and the Government had dropped the ball on providing public transport to connect activity centres.
