Western Australia reconsiders modifying the Large Format Retail land use definitions

The Western Australian Department of Planning, Lands & Heritage has confirmed that a recent proposal to move away from the LFRA-supported “best practice” approach to regulating Large Format Retail is being ‘reconsidered’ in response to strong advocacy by the LFRA and its members.

On 14th April 2023, the Department of Planning, Lands & Heritage (DPLH) in Western Australia advertised a planning reform proposal. The proposal was large and canvassed a broad package of planning reforms intended to standardise local planning schemes across the state.

Whilst the LFRA has long-advocated for consistent local planning schemes in Western Australia—the devil is always in the detail.

On this occasion — buried amongst more than 600 pages of documentation — was the wholly unexpected recommendation that the state’s existing model land use definition for Large Format Retail (first adopted in 2015, and closely aligned with the definition adopted by Victoria in 2012) be replaced by a new definition based on the one used in New South Wales.

What made this recommendation so surprising was that the model land use definitions have been upheld repeatedly by the Western Australian Planning Commission and the Minister for Planning in the face of opposition by some Local Governments.

That aside, the implications of this recommendation were serious. The adoption of an alternative land use definition would have reversed decades of incremental progress and made Western Australia the first state to move away from the best-practice approach sought by industry.

Once again, retailers opening new stores would have been subjected to “bulky goods” tests and potentially restricted to designated activity centres. Local authorities with a history of opposition would be empowered to frustrate and stymie retail growth in non-traditional locations.

Following initial engagement with the Department, the reform proposal was brough to the attention of attendees at the LFRA Gold Coast Forum.

Members were encouraged to prepare their own independent submissions in support of the LFRA’s position (a copy of the LFRA submission is available click here).

Ultimately 14 members responded by lodging submissions in opposition to the recommended changes to the land use definition.

These members represented a broad range of interests. They included large format retailers likely to be directly affected by the changes, bulky good retailers seeking to support the sector as a whole, investment funds with assets in Western Australia, and other investors look to acquire assets.

Furthermore, additional submissions opposing the recommendation were lodged by a handful of non-member investors, landowners, and at least one Local Government.

In response to this campaign, the Reform Team of the Department wrote to the LFRA on 21 June 2023 advising the following:

“Whilst analysis of all submissions is still ongoing, our preliminary view is that it is clear that the proposed modification to the bulky goods showroom definition will need to be reconsidered in light of the issues raised in submissions.”

This is a significant and prompt response to what we understand to have a disproportionately high response to the advertised proposal, demonstrating the influence that a coordinated advocacy campaign can bring to bear on public policy.

However, the reform proposal is not limited to land use definitions alone.

Further updates and information will be provided as the reform project progresses.