Report gives City of Canning poor score

The report, Benchmarking Greater Perth Local Governments, measured best practice planning performance of local government systems in 29 of Greater Perth’s councils and highlighted a lack of strategic and statutory planning.

The study found two councils – Melville and Belmont– had a high level of performance. Attaining a score of 10.8 out of 23, the City of Canning was deemed as underperforming in local strategies and scheme.

The 22-year-old local Planning Scheme was found to reflect local planning strategy but not the State’s strategic direction.

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It found the City had an “average performance.”

The scheme was found to be “very old” but in the process of review with high levels of delegation to City administration and with long timeframes leading to approval.

Out of 659 applications, 96 per cent of applications were delegated to planning officers, and 86 per cent of applications were processed within 60 days.

A spokeswoman for the City of Canning said the City’s score was in fact 10.9, equalling the council with the Town of East Fremantle and said the score card did not invite intelligent discussion.

“The City received a score of 10.9 out of 23 –it incorrectly references 10.8,” the spokeswoman said.

“Scorecard reports such as this do little to advance intelligent discussion about planning and urban development in Western Australia,”

“Also, the report is a snapshot and is not a reflection on the dynamic nature of planning.”

The spokeswoman said the report was based on the 2014/15 financial year, and in the time since the City had become a top performer.

“Using more recent data from the 2015/16 year shows the City of Canning’s delegation and processing figures up from 96 per cent to 98.4 per cent and 86 per cent to 90.25 per cent respectively,” she said. “These more recent figures demonstrate that the City of Canning is now one of the top performing local governments.”