Perth's rapidly expanding urban sprawl will lead to extreme infrastructure costs and traffic congestion if the state does not develop more inner-suburb housing, a new report has found.
The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre report Perth's Infill Housing Future revealed Perth was failing to meet its target of 47 per cent of new dwellings being built in existing suburbs, with the rate instead around 35 per cent in 2015.
Report co-author and director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Steven Rowley, said a detached-house dominant Perth was missing vital medium density housing options such as units, low rise apartment buildings and townhouses.
"There's a middle between your detached house and your high rise apartment and at the moment we're not delivering that," he said.
"We're finding a lot of the new supply is going to our outer fringes, and while there's always going to be a demand for that type of housing, we're not getting these alternative options which are in our inner suburbs."
His comments are supported by a Department of Housing report in 2013 that showed twice as many Perth residents wanted to live in inner city Perth than those it currently accommodated for.
With an increasing number of residents being forced to the outer fringe, he said the effect could lead to a disconnected city.
"If we don't have affordable housing options anywhere other than our urban fringes, people are going to be forced into those locations... [and] what you get is some really extreme infrastructure costs and transport issues," Mr Rowley said.
"We stretch 150 kilometres as it is at the moment, that's an incredible distance between the top and the bottom of greater Perth, we'll get a very detached city."
Bureau of Statistics data projects Western Australia will increase its share of Australia's population from 10.7 per cent in 2012 to 15.4 per cent in 2061, a jump from 2.4 million to roughly five million people.
In 2016, Census figures revealed 74.5 per cent of dwellings in greater Perth were stand-alone houses, a slight decline from 76.7 per cent in 2011.
Semi-detached dwellings accounted for 17 per cent, while flats, units and apartments accounted for eight per cent.
One of the key barriers to urban infill identified in the report was the NIMBY ('not in my backyard') reaction to medium or high density development in established suburbs.
"There's always community opposition when you're increasing density because it can create issues around parking, there's a perception that increased density is going to have a negative effect on local house prices and land values, which is certainly not the case," Mr Rowley said.
"It's very important that local governments and developers get in and explain to communities as early as possible the need for this sort of development and how it could possibly effect them."
He believed local councils played a key role in the need to identify land and facilitate medium-density development within inner suburbs.
The City of Joondalup's infill program allows residents in specific areas, usually within a 1km radius of a train station or major amenity to subdivide and develop their properties under special higher density zoning laws, while the City of Fremantle engaged a design advisory committee to help identify its infill development opportunities.
The City of Joondalup has a local infill program aimed at increasing density around key amenities and public transport hubs. This map shows an area specially zoned around Greenwood Station. Photo: City of Joondalup
The state government's draft urban sprawl blueprint, Perth and Peel @ 3.5 Million plan, has been in its draft stages for six years.
Its core aim is to reduce red tape and provide upfront federal environmental approvals and streamlined state approvals for all types of urban development.
The decision was guided by advice provided by the Environmental Protection Authority, which said uncontrolled urban sprawl was taking a toll on the natural environment.
Planning Minister Rita Saffioti told WAtoday on Thursday the Labor government intended to release a reviewed version of the plan in "coming months".
Perth is failing to meet urban infill targets. Photo: Rob Homer
"The draft plan will be improved to reflect key election policies such as Metronet to encourage, for example, mixed use precincts around future train stations," she said.
"Our aim is to bring the planning side of government together with the transport side to coordinate more liveable suburbs.
"People accept that density is required to sustain the population growth in the metropolitan area - but it's about improved liveability, and that's what we will aim to achieve."
The WA Local Government Association was contacted for comment.
