A COUNCIL law requiring chickens to be kept only on blocks more than 1000sq m will be reviewed.
Canning Councillor Patrick Hall asked for the review at the February 20 council meeting.
Cr Hall wanted the keeping of poultry provisions in the health local laws changed because the laws did not account for lot size changes due to infill.
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READ NOW“Firstly, it precludes the vast majority of residents in the City from ever having poultry as very few lots of that size now exist,” Cr Hall said.
“Secondly, it has inadvertently caused many residents who currently have chickens on small lots to unknowingly be in breach of the local law.
“There would be hundreds of families keeping chickens not aware that they are breaking the law.”
He said many councils did not have restrictions on lot sizes for the keeping of poultry.
Richard and Anna Park, who recently moved from the City of Cockburn where they kept chickens on their block of less than 400sq m, were banned from doing so in Shelley despite having a block more than 900sq m.
Mr Park attended the February council meeting to ask questions about the issue.
Tony Dalton said he had lived in Wilson for 54 years and kept chickens for 35 before discovering it was against the City’s laws.
The City’s health local laws were applied in 1998.
In the council agenda, a city officer said said the City agreed a more flexible local law would be a beneficial change.
A review of the City’s health local laws 1998 was already underway, with the City intending to examine the options for providing greater flexibility for residents to keep a reasonable number of poultry.
The new law would provide for a reasonable number of poultry to be kept, subject to some setback and cleanliness requirements. The review has started and is expected to be finished this year.
Mayor Paul Ng and Deputy Mayor Christine Cunningham voted against Cr Hall’s motion on February 20.
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