The report, which rated planning systems on a number of points including age of the system and the time taken to process applications, had all three local councils sitting at the middle of the table.
East Fremantle scored 10.9 out of a possible 23 points, Fremantle 10.5 and Cockburn slightly worse at 10.0.
Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said the City welcomed the comparisons, but was concerned a “large proportion of scores were based on processes rather than outcomes”.
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“In the City’s view, greater emphasis should be given to how well each local government is performing on delivering outcomes, in our case, State Government infill targets and our own targets for new commercial, retail and residential developments,” he said.
“While there’s always room for improvement, we feel confident our planning system is delivering outcomes to satisfy the expectations of the State and our local community.”
Cockburn chief executive Stephen Cain said the report did not accurately reflect the City’s performance.
“In a significant number of areas Cockburn is either an industry leader or in the top number of authorities, including for delegations, completed activity centre plans and having a Town Planning Scheme which reflects State Strategic directions. This is not reflected in the Property Council WA report and not all of the data supplied by the City was presented in the Property Council’s summary document,” he said.
“The City continuously identifies ways it can improve its processes and the report clearly identifies the need for the City to commence preparation of a new Local Planning Strategy.”
The report was compiled based on research and local government responses to a survey, with a number of councils choosing not to participate.