Minister sides with the developers on levy

Developers to the east of Margaret River have had a major win, with the WA Planning Minister relieving them of any proposed financial contribution to the perimeter road. Rita Saffioti ruled on the long-running stand-off between lawyers for the developers and the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River on May 27. Hopgood Ganim planning and development partner Karen Browne fronted councillors about the issue in 2017, rejecting claims landowners east of the townsite should contribute costs to the project. Ms Saffioti agreed, ruling the bypass project — majority funded by the WA Government and built by Main Roads WA — was primarily devised to shift heavy trucks off Margaret River’s main street, rather than to service future subdivisions to the east. In 2017, developers were asked to contribute about $2000 per lot towards the bypass, but the final figure remained undisclosed. The Shire’s acting sustainable development and infrastructure services director David Nicholson said there would be no effect on the Shire’s budget because the bypass was fully funded by the State Government. In a statement, Ms Browne welcomed the minister’s ruling. “In refusing the amendment, the minister stated that draft State Planning Policy 3.6 — which provides a framework for infrastructure contributions — was seriously entertained, and that the contributions sought by the Shire were inconsistent with the draft policy,” Ms Browne said. “Under the draft policy, a need and nexus for the infrastructure needed to be established between the development and the proposed infrastructure, and contributions need to be equally distributed between identified stakeholders.” Ms Saffioti acknowledged the bypass and John Archibald Drive would service development investigation areas in East Margaret River, but the haulage solution was the perimeter road’s main driver. Ms Browne also said the proposed contributions “were not equally distributed between the stakeholders and therefore the draft policy did not apply”.