Terms used

In force

(1)

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —

Account means the account referred to in section 203(2);

artificial waterway means an artificial channel, lake, harbour or embayment, for navigational, ornamental and recreational purposes, or for any of those purposes, and includes any addition to, or alteration of, an artificial waterway as so defined;

Authority means the Western Australian Land Information Authority established by the Land Information Authority Act 2006 section 5;

board means the board referred to in section 9;

chairperson means the chairperson of the board;

chief executive officer means the chief executive officer of the department principally assisting in the administration of this Act;

Commission means the Western Australian Planning Commission established by section 7;

Coordinator General has the meaning given in the State Development Act 2025 section 4;

Crown land has the meaning given to that term in the Land Administration Act 1997;

development means the development or use of any land, including —

(a)

any demolition, erection, construction, alteration of or addition to any building or structure on the land;

(b)

the carrying out on the land of any excavation or other works;

(c)

in the case of a place to which a protection order made under the Heritage Act 2018 Part 4 Division 1 applies, any act or thing that —

(i)

is likely to change the character of that place or the external appearance of any building; or

(ii)

would constitute an irreversible alteration of the fabric of any building;

development application means an application under a planning scheme, or under an interim development order, for approval of development;

Development Assessment Panel or DAP means a Development Assessment Panel established under section 171C(1);

district means an area that has been declared to be a district under the Local Government Act 1995;

environmental condition means a condition agreed under section 48F, or decided under section 48J, of the EP Act;

EP Act means the Environmental Protection Act 1986;

EPA means the Environmental Protection Authority continued in existence under the EP Act;

Government agreement has the meaning given in the Government Agreements Act 1979 section 2;

Heritage Council means the Heritage Council of Western Australia established by the Heritage Act 2018;

improvement plan means an improvement plan referred to in section 119;

improvement scheme means an improvement scheme that has effect under Part 8 Division 2;

improvement scheme area has the meaning given in section 122A(2);

interim development order means a regional interim development order or a local interim development order;

land includes —

(a)

land, tenements and hereditaments; and

(b)

any interest in land, tenements and hereditaments; and

(c)

houses, buildings, and other works and structures;

local interim development order means an interim development order made under section 102;

local order area means an area affected by, and specified in, a local interim development order;

local planning scheme means a planning scheme of effect or continued under Part 5;

lot means a defined portion of land —

(a)

depicted on a plan or diagram available from, or deposited with, the Authority and for which a separate Crown grant or certificate of title has been or can be issued; or

(b)

depicted on a diagram or plan of survey of a subdivision approved by the Commission; or

(c)

which is the whole of the land the subject of —

(i)

a Crown grant issued under the Land Act 1933¹; or

(ii)

a certificate of title registered under the Transfer of Land Act 1893; or

(iii)

a survey into a location or lot under section 27(2) of the Land Administration Act 1997 or a certificate of Crown land title the subject of such a survey; or

(iv)

a part‑lot shown on a diagram or plan of survey of a subdivision deposited with the Authority; or

(v)

a conveyance registered under the Registration of Deeds Act 1856,

but does not include a lot as defined in the Strata Titles Act 1985 section 3(1);

member means a member of the board;

metropolitan region means the region described in Schedule 3;

Metropolitan Region Scheme means the planning scheme continued under section 33(1), or any region planning scheme made in substitution for that scheme;

Minister for the Environment means the Minister to whom the Governor has for the time being committed the administration of the EP Act;

MRI Account means the Metropolitan Region Improvement Account established under section 198;

officer of the Commission means either of the following —

(a)

the Secretary to the Commission appointed under section 21(1);

(b)

a public service officer referred to in section 22;

planning code means a planning code approved by the Minister under regulations made under section 32B(1);

planning control area means a planning control area declared and in force under section 112;

planning scheme means a local planning scheme, region planning scheme or improvement scheme that has effect under this Act, or the Swan Valley Planning Scheme that has effect under the Swan Valley Planning Act 2020, and includes —

(a)

in the case of a local planning scheme, region planning scheme or improvement scheme that has effect under this Act — the provisions of the scheme being —

(i)

the provisions set out in the scheme; and

(ii)

any planning code that, with any modifications set out in the scheme, has effect under section 77(2)(b) as part of the scheme; and

(iii)

any provisions that have effect under section 257B(2) as part of the scheme;

and

(aa)

in the case of the Swan Valley Planning Scheme — the provisions of the scheme being —

(i)

the provisions set out in the scheme; and

(ii)

any provisions of a kind referred to in the Swan Valley Planning Act 2020 section 11 that, with any modifications set out in the scheme, have effect under that section as part of the scheme;

and

(b)

all maps, plans, specifications and other particulars contained in the scheme and colourings, markings or legends on the scheme;

public authority means any of the following —

(a)

a Minister of the Crown in right of the State;

(b)

a department of the Public Service, State trading concern, State instrumentality or State public utility;

(c)

any other person or body, whether corporate or not, who or which, under the authority of a written law, administers or carries on for the benefit of the State, a social service or public utility;

public work includes the following —

(a)

any public work as defined in the Public Works Act 1902 section 2;

(b)

development in any area to which a region planning scheme applies if the development is of a class or kind designated as public work under the scheme;

(c)

development in any area to which a local planning scheme applies if the development is of a class or kind designated as public work under the scheme;

region means the metropolitan region or a region referred to in Schedule 4;

region planning scheme means either of the following —

(a)

the Metropolitan Region Scheme;

(b)

a planning scheme continued under section 33(2) or of effect under Part 4;

regional interim development order means an interim development order made under section 98;

regional order area means an area affected by, and specified in, a regional interim development order;

responsible authority, except as provided in regulations made under section 171A(2)(a) or (ba), means —

(a)

in relation to a local planning scheme or local interim development order, the local government responsible for the enforcement of the observance of the scheme or order, or the execution of any works which under the scheme or order, or this Act, are to be executed by a local government; and

(b)

in relation to a region planning scheme, regional interim development order or planning control area, the Commission or a local government exercising the powers of the Commission; and

(c)

in relation to an improvement scheme or the Swan Valley Planning Scheme, the Commission;

road means a public thoroughfare for vehicles (as defined in the Road Traffic (Administration) Act 2008 section 4) or pedestrians, and includes structures or other things appurtenant to the road that are within its limits, and a thoroughfare is not prevented from being a road only because it is not open at each end;

State development area has the meaning given in the State Development Act 2025 section 4;

State development area declaration means a State development area declaration in force under the State Development Act 2025 Part 4;

State development area improvement scheme means an improvement scheme the making of which is authorised by a State development area declaration;

State development area plan means a State development area plan in force under the State Development Act 2025 Part 4;

State Development Minister means the Minister to whom the Governor has for the time being committed the administration of the State Development Act 2025;

State planning policy means a planning policy approved by the Governor or Minister, as the case requires, under regulations made under section 28(1);

subdivision includes amalgamation;

Swan Valley has the meaning given in the Swan Valley Planning Act 2020 section 3;

Swan Valley Planning Scheme has the meaning given in the Swan Valley Planning Act 2020 section 3;

utility services means drainage, electricity, sewerage or water supply services or such other services as are prescribed;

WALGA means the body constituted under section 9.58 of the Local Government Act 1995 and known as the Western Australian Local Government Association.

(2)

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears, a reference to —

(a)

“the preparation of a local planning scheme” or “the amendment of a local planning scheme” includes a reference to the adoption of a local planning scheme or amendment;

(b)

“a local planning scheme prepared by a local government” or “an amendment prepared by a local government” includes a reference to a planning scheme or amendment adopted by it,

and other parts of speech and grammatical forms of those phrases have corresponding meanings.

(3)

A provision of this Act relating to a region scheme is to be construed in conjunction with the provisions of this Act relating to local planning schemes as if those provisions related to region schemes but, if the provision relating to a region scheme is in conflict with, or inconsistent with a provision relating to a local planning scheme, for the purpose of construing the provision relating to a region scheme the provision relating to the region scheme prevails to the extent that it is in conflict or inconsistent.

[Section 4 amended: No. 60 of 2006 s. 147(2); No. 77 of 2006 Sch. 1 cl. 127(1); No. 21 of 2008 s. 690; No. 28 of 2010 s. 4, 41 and 52; No. 8 of 2012 s. 161; No. 22 of 2018 s. 186(2); No. 30 of 2018 s. 161; No. 26 of 2020 s. 6, 11 and 59; No. 45 of 2020 s. 57; No. 9 of 2022 s. 424; No. 4 of 2023 s. 143; No. 34 of 2023 s. 4 and 8; No. 34 of 2023 s. 37; No. 21 of 2025 s. 104.]

Regulations

This provision refers to the regulations (provided in regulations). Made under this Act:

By-law providing for enforcement of any by-law made under section 30 · Regulation
By-law under the Second Schedule of the Town Planning and Development Act 1928, clauses 4 and 11 · Regulation
By-laws for the Control of Hoardings · Regulation

18 more instruments made under this Act are listed on the Act’s overview.

Research tools for this sectionSubscription

Cited by Analyse Interrogate History Equivalents

The statute text is free to read above. View subscription options to unlock the case-law research tools for each provision.

4 Terms used