EAST WANNEROO — HORTICULTURE —
ZONING
977. Hon AARON STONEHOUSE to the Minister for Agriculture and
Food:
I refer the minister to the foreword
she wrote for the Western Australian Planning Commission's report
entitled ''The Future of East Wanneroo: Land Use and Water Management in
the Context of Network City'' published in 2007. As the then Minister
for Planning and Infrastructure, she highlighted, ''the large number of
appeals against unsuccessful subdivision applications'' within the
horticulture sector in that area, and went on to note that the problems
experienced by these businesses were ''very apparent''. Now that
she has direct responsibility for the horticulture
sector as Minister for Agriculture and Food, is the minister still committed to
allowing horticultural lots in east Wanneroo to be more easily subdivided, as
she clearly was in 2007; and, if she is, will she commit to work closely with
the current Minister for Planning to deliver on this long-overdue commitment to
the horticulture industry?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
As the member has highlighted, I did
indeed comment on the challenges and complexities facing land use and planning
in the Wanneroo area in the foreword of the 2007 report on the future of east
Wanneroo. I must say that I was very
surprised on my return to state politics some 10 years later to find out how
little progress had been made. But I am pleased to say that under the McGowan
government, there has been action and in May 2018, the Minister for Planning
approved amendments to the metropolitan region scheme to rezone 2 206 hectares
in east Wanneroo from rural to urban deferred, which will allow for future
residential, urban and industrial development in the area.