Question On Notice No. 2616 asked in the Legislative Council on 24 October 2019 by Hon Tim Clifford
Question Directed to the: Minister for Environment representing the Minister for Planning
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Question
I refer to the Liveable towns and cities section of the Climate Change In Western Australia Issues Paper, and I ask:
(a) will the Minister please table the data documenting the urban development across the Perth and Peel regions since 2009; and
(b) will the Minister please table the data documenting the decline in established vegetation, particularly tree canopy, across the Perth and Peel regions since 2009?
Answered on 28 November 2019
(a) During the period 2009 to 2018 (latest data available), a total of 7,276 hectares of land was urbanised through subdivision activity across Perth and Peel:
|
Year
|
Land consumption through subdivision (hectares)
|
|
2009
|
546
|
|
2010
|
664
|
|
2011
|
708
|
|
2012
|
677
|
|
2013
|
878
|
|
2014
|
1,176
|
|
2015
|
885
|
|
2016
|
781
|
|
2017
|
547
|
|
2018
|
417(Preliminary)
|
(b) Urban tree canopy data has been captured in 2009, 2014 and 2016 and developed as canopy maps across the Perth and Peel regions. This mapping is available on the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage and Western Australian Local Government Association websites.
The Better Urban Forest Planning: A guide to support the enhancement of urban forests in Western Australia (2018) assists local governments to understand, plan for, monitor and manage their urban forests with a view to enhancing their urban tree canopy. This document recognises there has been a 2.32 per cent decline in Perth’s overall canopy from 2009 to 2016.
The WAPC is developing a report card tool which will utilise urban canopy data developed with the CSIRO to produce an interrogable report card.