New word to help control land use in Joondalup

At last month’s meeting, councillors voted to proceed with the amendment to use “storage” for the purpose of public advertising.

The scheme will define storage as “premises used for the storage of goods, equipment, plant or materials”.

A council document said the terms storage yard and salvage yard applied only to storage that related to a particular trade or salvaged material.

“This means these land uses do not apply when land is being used to store excessive amounts of materials for personal use or for inappropriate general storage activities, making it difficult to control such uses,” it said.

“The proposed broader definition of storage will assist in compliance action where land owners in a residential area have excessive storage on their property that is not associated with a trade.

“This would mean excessive storage on a residential property could be pursued as an offence under the planning scheme which can incur more significant penalties than those under the Local Government Act 1995.”

Mayor Troy Pickard requested a report in June to initiate the amendment.

“There has been a growing issue in recent years of the inappropriate storage of items in front of houses that has exposed the City’s limited ability to take appropriate action to address residents’ concerns,” he said.

“I know of instances, sadly, where members of our community have sold their house because their neighbours, either opposite or adjoining, have inappropriately stored items on their property and in full display of the street which has destroyed the amenity of that residential area.”

“This will provide the relevant authority to officers to have the power to address the growing use of front yard storage areas in residential areas which is highly inappropriate.”