PLANNING UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
There has been an important development since we launched this petition.
Following years of concerns from residents, conservation groups and community associations, electors unanimously supported a motion at the City of Swan Annual Electors Meeting in February calling for a review of the City's planning processes.
In response, Council established a Planning Process Review Committee, tasked with setting the Terms of Reference and appointing an appropriately qualified independent consultant to undertake the review.
Importantly, a coalition of community groups has successfully pushed to ensure this is not simply a review of policies on paper. The review will examine three real community planning cases — The Vines redevelopment, Midway Ford and the Hazelmere Data Centre — to test whether planning processes and the wider WA State Planning Framework are actually being honoured.
That is significant because planning does not stop with local government. Decisions affecting our communities can involve the City of Swan, Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, Western Australian Planning Commission and ultimately the Minister for Planning.
For the Swan Valley, Parliament specifically enacted the Swan Valley Planning Act 2020 to protect a landscape of State significance — including its rural character, agriculture, environment and protection from incompatible development.
This goes directly to the heart of our petition.
Across The Vines, Swan Valley, Brigadoon and surrounding rural and rural-residential communities, the individual issues may be different — changing residential density, subdivision, Home Businesses, vegetation clearing, drainage or incompatible development — but the fundamental question is the same:
Are the zoning, planning schemes, State legislation and protections under which our communities were established actually being honoured?
The independent review is underway, with its report scheduled to go to the Council committee in September 2026.
PLEASE JOIN US — AND PLEASE SIGN & SHARE THE PETITION
The Swan Communities Environmental Alliance (SCEA) is holding a community meeting to explain where the review is at, what it is examining and how residents and ratepayers can help achieve a better planning process:
Thursday 27 August 2026 — 6.30pm
West Swan Hall, West Swan Road, West Swan
Opposite Oasis Supa Golf
Please come along — and if you haven't already, SIGN and SHARE this petition.
Every signature strengthens the call for Local and State Government to listen to the community, uphold our planning laws and zoning, and protect the Swan River, Swan Valley and our rural and rural-residential communities for future generations.
Planning decisions affecting one property today can become the precedent that changes an entire community tomorrow.
Protect the River. Protect the Floodplain. Protect our Rural Communities.
Honour the laws. Honour the zoning. Honour the vision. Honour the promise.