Controversial Springfield subdivision returns to council next week

A controversial Springfield subdivision in the City of Busselton returns to the council for consideration next week after being pushed back at December’s meeting.

Included in the proposal are plans to subdivide a 104.6ha farm along Commonage Road in Yallingup into 66 rural residential lots, while retaining 15ha of remnant vegetation.

Councillors will vote at the March 26 council meeting to approve the structure plan for final approval and submit it to the WA Planning Commission.

The proposal was previously considered by the council in December. Councillors narrowly voted not to adopt the proposed structure plan until the city’s draft local planning scheme could be workshopped with the proposed structure plan.

During the December meeting councillors argued the plan was outside the city’s planning legislation.

Cr Kate Cox said the proposed plan was beyond the scope of the city’s legalisation, which indicated properties smaller than 2ha should not be established. Springfield’s plans outline an average lot size of 1.42ha for the development.

“The proponent’s justification for smaller lots in this cluster development is that it achieves an efficient design and layout that respects the limited supply of rural-residential land,” she said in the December meeting.

“Fifty submissions were received with regard to this proposal, and at least 44 of them were objecting to the density and the ramifications of the proposed density — neighbours will be looking at neighbours, looking at neighbours, looking at neighbours.”

Cr Andrew Macnish was in favour of the previous plan and spoke against pushing for the developers to return to the drawing board with their project.

The December vote to delay the plans only just passed 5-4.

The city has presented several adjustments to the original plan which could be presented to the Springfield developers if voted for by councillors next week.

The adjustments suggested by the shire would see the development increase the minimum lot size of the subdivision to 2ha with an average lot size of 4ha across the development.

Beyond this, councillors could delay the approvals further by seeking more information from the developers, decline the proposal entirely or request the developers modify their proposal independently to meet the city’s requirements.

The City of Busselton’s council meeting starts at 5.30pm on March 26 inside the city’s council chambers and can also be viewed online.