On 8th April 2020, the WA Planning Minister, the Hon Rita Saffioti signed a Notice of Exemption under Part 10B, Schedule 2 and clause 78H of the Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015.

This Notice of Exemption is in response to the COVID19 situation. It changes the planning approvals which are required to be sought and how long existing planning approvals are valid for.

Some of the key changes are;

For specific COVID-19 purposes

  1. For development (use or built) which is taking place for COVID19 medical or health related purposes from 8 April 2020 until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked, no prior planning approval will be required to be sought, if a Public Authority or Local Government advises or identifies "the medical or health related activities as a necessary response to the COVID-19 Pandemic".
  2. If any development is required to be undertaken to comply with a direction or authorisation issued under the Emergency Management Act 2005 or the Public Health Act 2016 no planning approval is required until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked.

For Existing Developments needing to modify their operations

  1. For shops, restaurants / cafés; convenience stores (other than those also selling petrol) consulting rooms, offices who are located:
    • in a commercial, centre and/or mixed use zone, where no new permanent structures are required; and
    • where the premises is connected to all reticulated utility services, and does not depend on any onsite effluent disposal; and
    • the premises is not a heritage protected area.

The new uses (other than prohibited uses in that zone) will not require planning approval from 8 April 2020 until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked, provided the proponent advises the Local Government the temporary use within 7 days of commencing that use.

  1. For uses and temporary works associated with Industry, Industry-Light, trade supplies, warehouse/storage, transport depot, who are located:
    • in an industry zone, where:
      • no new permanent structures are required; or
      • any structures required to facilitate the temporary use will be in place for less than 2 years from the commencement of the temporary use and removed after that time;
    • and
    • where the premises is connected to all reticulated utility services, and does not depend on any onsite effluent disposal; and
    • the premises is not a heritage protected area.

The new uses (other than prohibited uses in that zone) will not require planning approval from 8 April 2020 until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked, provided the proponent advises the Local Government of the temporary use within 7 days of commencing that use.

  1. For existing planning approvals with conditions limiting hours of loading or unloading times, to sell goods and/or related to the delivery of goods and/or petroleum products, proponents may claim an exemption from compliance with those conditions from 8 April 2020 until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked, by advising the Local Government within 7 days of claiming the exemption by commencing the use.
  2. For all planning approvals decided on or before the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked the deadline to substantially commence is automatically extended from the current expiry of an existing planning approval to 2 years post that expiry.
  3. For currently approved and new applications for planning approval of non-residential development where there is a shortfall of car parking spaces of less than 10 spaces, the proponents are exempted from providing car bays until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked.
  4. For currently approved developments only an exemption from providing cash in lieu payments relating to shortfalls in car parking bays applies until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked.
  5. For currently approved hotels, taverns, restaurants/cafes or other similar venues where no new permanent structures (other than car bays) are requires, proponents are exempted from any conditions of approval requiring that:
    • Food prepared at the premises be consumed at the premises;
    • Approval be obtained if any food is to be consumed off the premises;
    • Any required to obtain approval for minor works to enable food to be consumed off the premises.

This exemption applies until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked.

  1. No planning approval is required for changes to existing approved signage that relates to the business in the premises on which the sign is situated (where it is installed in non-residential areas) that do not "contain any illumination, animation, movement, reflective, retro-reflective or fluorescent materials in its design structure". This exemption applies until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect or is revoked.
  2. Discontinuance of Non- conforming uses will result in no loss of right under the non-conforming use rights from 8 April 2020 until the day after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked.

For People working from home (Home Occupation) and people operating Home Businesses

  1. The uses of home business and home occupation in residential zones (or where dwelling, grouped dwelling or multiple dwelling is a permitted use) no longer require planning approval from 8 April 2020 until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked, if the Local Government is informed of the new use within 7 days of the use commencing.

For New Development

  1. Commercial Vehicle Parking and temporary uses associated with Commercial Vehicle Parking no longer require planning approval from 8 April 2020 until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked, if the Local Government is informed of the new use within 7 days of the use commencing.
  2. Temporary workers accommodation for the installation, construction and/or maintenance of essential services eg power stations, water, or sewer treatment facilities will no longer require planning approval from 8 April 2020 until 90 days after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked, provided the proponent advises the Local Government of the temporary use within 7 days of commencing that use.

For Local Government processes

  1. Local Governments can now make planning policies relating to exemptions from requiring planning approval by advertising on their website for a minimum of 3 days and publishing the policy on their website from 8 April 2020 until the day after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked.
  2. Local Governments are exempted from the requirements under the Deemed Provisions of the Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015 requiring documents to be made available for public inspection so long as those documents are made available on the local government's website. This exemption expires on the day after the date upon which the State of Emergency Declaration ceases to have effect, or is revoked.

The link to the signed Notice of Exemption can be found here

https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/getmedia/cef1036f-4af8-48a2-966d-85451def5a31/Signed-Notice-of-Exemption

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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