State Planning Strategy 2050

On 12 June 2014, the Hon John Day MLA, Minister for Planning, released the new State Planning Strategy 2050 (SPS).

The SPS envisages sustained growth for WA over the coming decades and forms the State Government’s strategic planning response to that anticipated growth.  The SPS is designed to provide an integrated, whole-of-government view of the strategic planning needed to respond to the challenges and opportunities facing WA.

The SPS provides a framework of planning principles, strategic goals and State strategic directions, and is structured as follows:

• Vision: Sustained Growth and Prosperity;
• Principles;
• Strategic Goals;
• Strategic Directions; and
• Action Planning.

The six principles which underpin the SPS are:

• community – enabling diverse, affordable, accessible and safe communities;
• economy – facilitating trade, investment, innovation, employment and community betterment;
• environment – conserving the State’s natural assets through sustainable development;
• infrastructure – ensuring infrastructure supports development;
• regional development – building the competitive and collaborative advantages of the regions; and
• governance – building community confidence in development processes and practices.

The principles and objectives are strongly supported as they clearly envisage and encourage development and growth of WA in the long term.  We and the majority of our landowner/developer clients will be interested to see the manner and speed with which the objectives and principles are applied to land use planning and development in the near term, particularly as the SPS is intended only to be a guide for public and local authorities to express their legislative responsibilities.  That being the case, we envisage that the ultimate success of the SPS will rely heavily on State Government support in driving the objectives.