State Development Assessment Unit trial

The City of Cockburn's response to Business News on 10 January 2022 about the State Development Assessment Unit trial

Questions: 
How did the City utilise the pathway?
How does the City view the success/failure of the program?
Its response to criticism saying the system circumvents local government planning.
Whether it thinks the SDAU should be made permanent and whether it viewed it as necessary in the first place, given WA didn’t suffer economically from COVID as initially anticipated.
Can you also confirm the following:
Did the City of Cockburn recommend the $1.08b shopping centre expansion for approval?
Did the City recommend the $28m wharf extension, land reclamation and servicing for approval?
Answer: The City of Cockburn has only had two applications lodged with the SDAU:

• Expansion of Cockburn Gateway Shopping City ($1.08b) – lodged 23 December 2020 and approved 28 October 2021
• Land Reclamation and Wharf Extension – Australian Maritime Complex ($28m) – lodged 23 March 2021 and approved 15 July 2021

In both cases the applications were supported by the City and the majority of the conditions suggested by the City were implemented.
 
In respect to both applications, the SDAU largely duplicated the existing approval process. The only significant difference was the Cockburn Gateway application was assessed by the State Design Review Panel. The Cockburn Gateway proposal took over 10 months from its initial lodgement until it was finally approved, and the AMC proposal under four months.

In line with a WA Local Government Association resolution, the City believes a detailed evaluation of the SDAU should be undertaken prior to it becoming a permanent arrangement. This would include consultation with all affected peak bodies (i.e. Urban Development Institute of Australia WA and WALGA).