City of Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan said Bunbury was open for business after its local planning scheme and strategy was approved by the WA Planning Commission.
The new scheme and strategy was approved last week and aims to open Bunbury to more diverse development and drive growth for the next 20 years.
Key elements of the scheme include expanding the city centre to include Bunbury’s ‘three waters’ – Indian Ocean, Leschenault Inlet and Koombana Bay.
Through the new ‘Regional Centre Zone’ it will allow developers to double the available floor space for commercial and high-density residential buildings.
More mixed use, such as commercial space on a lower floor with residential above, is also being promoted through two new mixed use zones.
There is also a range of new land uses designed to encourage innovative development based on sound planning and urban design principles.
This exciting milestone will open Bunbury to more diverse development and drive growth over the next 20 years.
The scheme includes a new ‘Light Industry Zone’ to promote cleaner, high-tech industrial parks, a new ‘Tourism Zone’ to encourage both tourism and lifestyle opportunities for mixed use development along Ocean drive and other key sites.
The scheme also has an environmental aspect with a new Conservation Reserve and Bushland Areas Special Control Area to promote the city’s biodiversity targets.
New land use zones that set out architecture to deal more effectively with the challenges of emerging economic activities while better addressing land use conflict.
Mayor Brennan said city planners had been working closely with prospective developers over the past few months to ensure they were aware of the development potential enabled by the new scheme.
“A lot of hard work has gone into the scheme and strategy which replaces the previous Town Planning Scheme 7 and opens the door to development opportunities which were previously not possible,” he said.
“Bunbury is open for business and I look forward to a creative approach from developers coming forward to enhance and revitalise our city.”
The draft Strategy and Scheme were advertised for public comment from Wednesday, 14 September to Friday, 16 December 2016.
All submissions were reviewed and a number of changes were recommended to the drafts to address issues raised in submissions.
Follow the link for more detailed information on Local Planning Scheme 8 and the Local Planning Strategy http://www.bunbury.wa.gov.au/Pages/Local-Planning-Scheme-8.aspx
