The last meeting dealt with the very contentious matter of the State planning authority directing the Mundaring Shire to make amendments to their Draft Local Planning Scheme No. 4. This was in response to lobbying by a religious organisation which had purchased land in a residential zone to build a very large convention centre as a Place of Worship. The Minister (or rather the MP standing in for him), directed that the Council allow a Place of Worship in any zone
Apart from the zoning restrictions already imposed by the Council, there are issues of public safety in the event of a fire: traffic congestion; drainage issues; loss of housing land and the impact on residents of such a facility built where they had expected a quiet neighbourhood.
To agree to this means that local government would lose control of the planning scheme, adopted after a long and exhaustive consultation period and already submitted to State Government for approval.

Our group was only one of many who wrote to the Shire Council opposing any changes. At a packed meeting the all Councillors rejected the recommendation, but that is not the end of it. The Minister can still override the Shire’s decision. We hope that common sense will prevail, but…