Project Update

Both the Brooklands Private Estate and the Henley Brook Private Estate are the two major residential development projects within the Henley Brook local structure plan (Brooklands masterplan). The City of Swan is now home to one of the most popular development and land for sale corridors in Perth! 

    • on May 1, 2015 the Draft North-East Sub Regional Planning Framework was released by the Western Australian Planning Commission in which Brooklands has been identified for “urban expansion”;Brooklands project update
    • on 18 December, 2015 the Brooklands Metropolitan Region Scheme Amendment request was submitted to the Western Australian Planning Commission requesting that specific lots within the Brooklands precinct be rezoned from “Rural” to “Urban”;
    • properties have been inspected by civil and environmental engineers;
    • ground water monitoring bores have been sunk on various properties and water levels have been monitored over the past 12 months. Water monitoring data has also been obtained from the Avonlee project on Park Street;
    • western power, water corp, telstra, nbn etc. have all supported the proposed residential development;
    • additional planners have been engaged;
    • the WA state election has delayed the finalisation of the North-East Sub Regional Planning Framework by the Western Australian Planning Commission. The expected release date is now June 2017 however, the Project Manager, Progress Developments has obtained approval for the Brooklands Residential Development Project to move forward independently;
    • on Thursday, 4 May, 2017 Project Manager, Chris Lewis met with the Honourable Rita Saffioti MLA (Member for West Swan), Minister for Transport; Planning; Lands. The Minister is very supportive of the development  having already met with property owners on site in her capacity as the West Swan MLA. As a consequence questions were asked in the Legislative Council on behalf of property owners in relation to the future rezoning of this land. Brooklands has now been identified for urban expansion in the Draft North-East Sub Regional Planning Framework released by the WAPC on May 1, 2015;
    • the Minister’s recent announcements of the MetroNet rail project and the new Lord Street are significant outcomes for the Brooklands Residential Development Project and conversely, the Brooklands Residential Development Project will substantially add to the justification for building  these projects;
    • subsequent to the meeting with the Minister on 4 May, Progress Developments have written to the Department of Planning, again requesting that the MRS amendment be sent to the State Planning Committee with a recommendation for approval to advertise;
    • Brooklands has been transferred from the Swan Valley/Gidgeannup Ward to the newly named Whiteman Ward. Brooklands has also been added to the Ellenbrook local structure plan which has been adopted by council. In my opinion this is complete recognition by the City of Swan that Brooklands is now an urban precinct. As already stated it only makes sense from a practical planning and an urban growth point of view that this area be rezoned to urban and that this precinct is included within the Whiteman Ward accordingly. It is now an infill area and is more efficient to develop than outer metropolitan areas in terms of supporting service and transport infrastructure, jobs and key amenities such as schools and shops;
    • on Wednesday, 23 August, 2017 the Western Australian Planning Commission initiated the Metropolitan Region Scheme amendment to Urban;
    • on 14 February 2018 the City of Swan Council resolved unanimously to advise the West Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) that it supports the Metropolitan Region Scheme Amendment (1329/57) proposal to include the Henley Brook Urban Precinct in the “Urban” zone under the Metropolitan Region Scheme (MRS);
    • on Friday, 23 March 2018 the final Perth and Peel@3.5million suite of land use planning and infrastructure frameworks were released. There were no changes for Brooklands which is still identified for “urban expansion”.  This outcome now sets in concrete the state level policy that supports the development of the Brooklands Private Estate, which is reinforced by the long awaited key transport projects now in play:-
      • new Lord Street;
      • 300 bay park and ride bus transport;
      • METRONET – Whiteman Train Station;
      • NorthLink;
      • Henley Brook Avenue extension to Reid Highway.

It should be noted that:
Pursuant to section 126(3) of the Planning and Development Act 2005, the WAPC has the option of concurrently rezoning land that is being zoned Urban under the MRS, to a “Development” zone (or similar), in the corresponding Local Planning Scheme.                      

The WAPC agreed to the land being zoned Urban within MRS amendment 1329/57 being transferred to the Residential Development zone in the City of Swan Local Planning Scheme No. 17. This amendment to Local Planning Scheme No. 17 is effective from the date of publication of this notice in the Government Gazette.

Henley Brook Local Structure Plan

  • 26 July 2019 – Proposed Henley Brook Local Structure Plan
    The proposed Structure Plan has been prepared to guide the subdivision and development of approximately 233 hectares of land within Henley Brook, generally bound by Lord Street to the west, Gnangara Road to the north, the planned Henley Brook Avenue to the east, and Park Street to the south. Key aspects of the proposed Structure Plan include:             
  • Estimated 3,500 new residential dwellings at medium-range densities of between R40 to R60 and associated internal road network;
  • Total estimated population of 9,800 people;
  • Two (2) public primary school sites;
  • Approximately 35 hectares of public open space for recreation and flood storage, comprised of 9 individual public open spaces and a central linear network along the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline and Parmelia Gas Pipeline alignments and the St Leonards Creek waterway; and,
  • Reserves for Water Corporation infrastructure.
    All documents and plans associated with the application can be viewed on the City’s website:
    https://www.swan.wa.gov.au/Your-Community/Have-your-say/Planning-notices/Proposed-structure-plans/SWAN-SP20194-Henley-Brook-Local-Structure-Plan

The City of Swan Council, at its meeting held on 8 April 2020, considered the above matter and resolved to recommend that the applicant undertake the following modifications to the Henley Brook Local Structure Plan.

It would seem that the City of Swan want their cake and eat it too!

Clearly, there has been absolutely no consideration for those property owners living on the eastern and southern peripheries of the Henley Brook (Brooklands) Local Structure Plan (behind the recommended POS corridors) and along its boundary with Morgan Fields where the City of Swan has recommended R5-R10 (1000 – 2000m²) residential zoning codes.

Case in point, I have lived on my 5 acre property in Henley Brook (Brooklands) which is located on Park Street for the past 37 years. I am now at a stage in my life where I would like to downsize to a smaller block and house in this great location. The new Henley Brook subdivision now affords me this opportunity. However, given that a City of Swan councillor has imposed R5-R10 zoning over my land I am now burdened with a minimum lot size of 1000m² which is completely unacceptable! A lot size of approximately 500m² would be much more practical for me both financially and physically in my retirement.

Henley Brook is typically an infill project with established residential development to the North and South. It has the opportunity to maximise land use within 25 kms of the Perth CBD and other key employment areas such as Midland, Malaga, Wangara, Upper Swan and the surrounding Swan Valley. It will provide one of the best opportunities to plan density around the Metronet rail project and not a retrofit. The broader Swan Valley through the Swan Valley Protection Act provides opportunities for those seeking lifestyle opportunities, there is no need to short change an infill location.

Moreover, it is now more important than ever that every effort is made to minimize the long and short-term impact of the covid-19 virus outbreak on our economy and on our community. To this end, access to affordable land and housing is a vital part of any post-Corona economic recovery plan.

Apparently, these larger lot sizes on the Park Street side of the Henley Brook LSP are to act as an interface with the larger lots on the southern side of Park Street? 

In our opinion, the larger lots are not required and it is very obvious that this has been nothing but a self-serving exercise by councillors to appease a very small minority of Morgan Fields residents in an effort to justify their own existence, at the expense of existing property owners and their families!  There is something profoundly wrong when some “Johnny-come-lately” councillor who doesn’t even live in the area and IS NOT a Whiteman ward councillor can impose their will over a project with a value close to $1BILLION that impacts so many people! A statement which is further supported by the fact that the Whiteman ward has 17,399 total electors (2019) and the recently two elected councillors received 1,888 and 1,780 respectively. Very disappointing to say the least and testimony to why the City of Swan has such a poor planning reputation! You can watch this outcome via live streaming to make up your own mind – agenda item starts at 15:40 on timeline.

However, here are our reasons why the larger lots are not required:-

  • Park Street is to be widened another 6 metres;
  • an additional linear corridor of public open space along the full extent of the southern edge of the LSP abutting Park Street to a width of 8 metres in order to provide a tree buffer zone has been recommended;
  • there will be no access/egress to the new lots via Park Street due to projected traffic volume thus requiring the possible installation of a “slip road” to the width of 5 metres;
  • people who own the larger lots on the Southern side of Park Street are wanting to downsize and subdivide as well in the future. It is critical that Planners take this into consideration.

All up, that is another 19 meters of land that will be added to the front boundary of the new Park Street lots which is a more than adequate interface in itself!

Lot sizes within the LSP area should be developed in accordance with Planning Policy. Not only has there been no consideration for existing property owners the lot sizes as recommended above do not meet the density targets for new urban growth areas and hopefully they will not be supported by the WAPC. 

Furthermore, the recommendation of  R5-R10(1000 – 2000 m²) on the northern side of Park Street by Council does present a very strong legal argument against the City of Swan based on precedent, given that they have already approved smaller residential lots on Park Street!  The new stage of the Ariella Private Estate by Cedar Woods is exactly what we want. The image below shows the tree buffer and the “slip road” that will provide access to the smaller lots. 

The question begs; where is the interface for our 5 acre lots on the northern side of Park Street!!??

It must be said that over the past 15 plus years the City of Swan have been nothing but obstructionists:-

  • they neglected to include the outcome of MRS Amendment No.1036/33 within the Directions 2031 and Beyond strategic level framework document – a gross oversight on their part which would have identified Brooklands for urbanisation  at the state level 10 years ago. Point being, the City of Swan had a clear mandate to help landowners 15 years ago and they did absolutely nothing! As one prominent Perth developer has stated; “you people have been shafted!”;
  • they attempted to change the ‘urban’ zoning to ‘urban deferred’ leaving landowners to rot for another 20 years or who knows how long. A clear contradiction of the Minister’s approval to an urban zoning;
  • the one liner cop-outs by senior planning staff; “there is enough urban land in the City of Swan” and “this is the hardest structure plan I have had to deal with in my career”. It should be noted that the Henley Brook (Brooklands) LSP is no different to the Landsdale private estate which is close by and was also fragmented with small land holdings. Perhaps these staff members should contact the City of Wanneroo for advice or better still look for a new career and stop accepting a tax payer funded salary under false pretences;
  • there was no interface in the way of larger lots for us on the northern side of Park Street when they approved the smaller lots on the southern side;
  • and to really add insult, we now have some “Johnny-come-lately” councillor attempting to impose R5-R10 and R25 (1000 – 2000 m²) residential zoning codes over our land on the northern side of Park Street when they have already approved the smaller lots on the southern side of Park Street (as per the image above);
  • we had the same Ward Councillor for over 20 years while Brooklands came under the Swan Valley ward and this person could not even make representation on our behalf to have scheme water provided!  Now, after 37 years this same Councillor is voting to impose residential zoning restrictions over our land. This is a person who did absolutely nothing for us for over 20 years and now has the audacity and arrogance to think he should have a say on the residential zoning outcome — un-bloody-believable!! Keep in mind that the rezoning of Brooklands from special rural to urban was a solely and exclusively land owner initiative with absolutely no help from council!

Absolutely appalling, the City of Swan has once again failed miserably in representing the interests of its community! Their blatant disregard, self serving behaviour, arrogance and lack of support for local residents living in Brooklands has been downright shameful and offensive!

Clearly, this council has demonstrated at all levels that this is a layer of government we can surely do without and as a consequence, there should be strong moves at the State level to begin dispersing the more important council responsibilities to the relevant ministerial departments. For example, ALL planning and transport approval processing requirements should be the sole responsibility of the Planning and Transport minister(s) – period! The end result being smaller councils with limited responsibilities that can be easily amalgamated/centralised.

In support of the above statement a person only needs to take a look at Commissioner Tony Power’s inquiry report into the Perth City Council in which he stated; “overall, the city was poorly led, poorly governed, dysfunctional and, as a result, failing in its most important duty – to properly represent and serve the needs and interests of its community”. A finding that is not just unique to the Perth City Council! 

Over the past five years, more than 10 councils across Australia have been sacked amid varying allegations of corruption, budget blowouts, infighting and general dysfunction!  Despite the sackings, the work of local government goes on, prompting ratepayers, academics and local business people to ask if councillors are actually needed at all and the answer is; NO!

Mirvac’s new sign along Lord Street.

Mirvac have submitted a development application to the City of Swan to carry out bulk earth works (stage 1) on 7 August, 2020.  check status… 

Mirvac have also submitted a development application to the City of Swan on 1 December, 2020 to develop 156 residential lots – Brookland Estate Area B (Park Street Central). check status…

Houses at the following property locations were demolished between 20 and 23 October 2020:

272 Park Street HENLEY BROOK WA 6055
286 Park Street HENLEY BROOK WA 6055
292 Park Street HENLEY BROOK WA 6055
266 Park Street HENLEY BROOK WA 6055

This date can be used to determine how long it takes the developers to complete the first stages.

Based on the information below it is our opinion that the sewer system installation and subsequent connection rates will significantly delay the timely progress of this development.

The Water Corporation in July 2019 approved conceptual planning for a gravity sewer system to run generally adjacent to the Henley Brook Drive corridor down to Youle-Dean Road. The interim strategy is to discharge into existing 300mm DIA sewer in Youle-dean road east of the current WPS. The ultimate strategy will see a 375mm gravity sewer discharge into the existing pump station on Youle-dean road Brabham. click on this link to view in depth information

The following table provides the likely timeframe for the development of lots with scenarios as follows: –

    • Scenario 1A – LSP and MRS Amendments are allowed to be completed concurrently with lot sales at 10 per month;
    • Scenario 1B – LSP and MRS Amendments are allowed to be completed concurrently with lot sales at 6 per month;
    • Scenario 2A – LSP and MRS Amendments are not allowed to be completed concurrently with lot sales at 10 per month;
    • Scenario 2B – LSP and MRS Amendments are not allowed to be completed concurrently with lot sales at 6 per month.
Infrastructure Servicing Report
source: kctt Engineering – Brooklands Infrastructure Servicing Report

As per the Brooklands Infrastructure Servicing Report the flow rates and land sales noted above are anticipated development rates and do not take into account any competing developments within the Brooklands Structure Plan area. The likely flows within 10 years are therefore likely to be between 10 l/sec to 18 l/sec based on the information provided in the table above.

Since this information was formulated it should be noted that there are now at least four separate developers involved with the development of Brooklands all wanting a quick turnaround. Not to mention, the joint venture between Peet Limited and the state government to develop a 220ha site on Murray Road, Brabham consisting of approximately 490 low cost dwellings.  

source: Engineering Servicing Report Peet Limited September 2020

It would seem that the initial Mirvac development has approval to connect directly to the Ariella sewer system running across Park Street. However, we are yet to determine whether this is only a temporary solution until the Youle-dean road pump station becomes available and if this only applies to the Mirvac parcel of land?  There was no mention of this in the the Brooklands Infrastructure Servicing Report!

In view of the above information it is our opinion that it will be at least two years before the Youle-dean road pump station is available for the Brooklands development.  How this will impact the overall sewer connectivity and subsequent development stages in Brooklands is anybody’s guess!? 

Also, the Henley Brook Local Structure Plan (Brooklands Masterplan) has been submitted to the WAPC for their determination, just hover your mouse over the image below…

10 February, 2021 – WE HAVE LIFT OFF!!  Wormall’s heavy earth moving machinery has arrived on the Mirvac development site (Henley Brook Private Estate) and work has commenced! It has been 5 long years since the amendment request was submitted to the Western Australian Planning Commission! The Henley Brook Local Structure Plan was officially approved by the Western Australian Planning Commission on 12 February 2021.

The above video is of early earth works carried out by Wormall on Mirvac’s Henley Brook Private Estate project which is part of the Brooklands Masterplan.