Reviews are carried out by an independent body, typically the State Administrative Tribunal. In rare cases, parties may seek Supreme Court intervention regarding a decision, however this is typically limited to whether the decision-maker made a legal mistake, rather than on the relative planning merits of the decision.
The right to commence review proceedings is open to the person who applied for the planning decision. There are no third-party review rights in Western Australia (such as an adjacent landowner). There is, however, some scope under the SAT Act for a third party to become involved in a review initiated by an applicant, including a right to make a submission to SAT.
This section discusses how planning decisions can be reviewed.
Validity of conditions
Most planning decisions are conditional, that is conditions need to be satisfied for the activity to be valid, be it new land titles or development. Making and applying conditions is an important issue that requires conditions to be worded clearly and simply, and for conditions to be consistent across Western Australia.
The State Administrative Tribunal, and other appeal bodies in Australia have adopted the approach taken in Newbury DC v Secretary of State for the Environment (1981) AC578 when considering the validity of specific conditions. That decision held that, to be valid, a condition must:
- be imposed for a planning purpose
- fairly and reasonably relate to the development for which permission is given and
- be reasonable, that is, be a condition which a reasonable planning authority, properly advised, might impose
The decision of the High Court has been adopted and is applied to development and subdivision conditions in Western Australia. The WAPC publishes its model subdivisions conditions schedule so that conditions of subdivision are correctly worded and consistently applied. Similarly, the Western Australian Local Government Association has prepared a schedule for local government development conditions. This section discusses the tests of conditions and makes reference to both subdivision and development conditions, to provide a comprehensive overview.
Further reading
Model subdivision conditions schedule – includes more detailed commentary regarding conditions, and a schedule of model conditions applied by the WAPC for subdivisions.
Case law - Renstone Nominees Pty Ltd v the Metropolitan Region Planning Authority (TPAT 32/84 and 57/84).