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DA ApprovalDevelopment approval in WA

A guide published by Dotto

Development approval in WA, and who decides it

DA Approval is a guide to development approval in Western Australia, written and published by Dotto. Depending on its scale, complexity or impact, a proposal is decided by a different body, and an applicant can take a refusal or a condition on to review.

Who decides what

  1. Most applicationsThe local government: its council, or officers acting under delegation
  2. $2 million or moreA Development Assessment Panel, if the applicant chooses one; community housing by a registered provider can choose one too
  3. Larger projectsThe Planning Commission under Part 11B, if the applicant chooses it: $20 million or more in the Perth, Peel and Swan Valley scheme areas, $5 million or more elsewhere
  4. Renewable energyThe Planning Commission must decide proposals of $20 million or more, from 5 October 2026
  5. Redevelopment areasDevelopment WA, in Perth’s five redevelopment areas
  6. ReviewThe State Administrative Tribunal, at the applicant’s request; there is no third-party review

In a local planning scheme area, nobody may start works or a new use of land without development approval, unless the work is listed as needing none. Local governments assess or decide most development applications in the State. Larger proposals can go elsewhere: to a Development Assessment Panel, or to the Western Australian Planning Commission under Part 11B of the Planning and Development Act 2005.

General informationThese pages describe Western Australian planning law as the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage and the legislation set it out in October 2026. They are not legal or planning advice about any site or application. Development approval is given under the planning scheme; building work has its own approvals under the Building Act 2011.

Reading the directory

The local government. It has 7 days to tell an applicant whether the application is accepted for assessment, then 60 days to decide it, or 90 if the application had to be advertised or was sent to another authority. The steps are in lodging a DA and the decision clock.

A Development Assessment Panel. The application is still lodged with the local government, which assesses it and reports to the panel; the panel then approves, refuses or defers it at a meeting. Who can opt in, and the two ways the $2 million line is worded, are in Development Assessment Panels.

The Planning Commission under Part 11B. Consultation with the Commission before lodging is required, and a decision is due within 120 days of acceptance. The other routes in, including apartments with social or affordable housing, are in the Part 11B pathway.

Review, and who can ask for it

Review is usually by the State Administrative Tribunal, and the right to start it belongs to the person who applied, or, for a local government decision, the owner of the land. Western Australia gives no third-party review rights, so a neighbour cannot begin one, though a third party can take some part in a review an applicant starts. The review guide sets out which decisions qualify.

Other decision-makers

The planning system is closely connected, and a proposal can be considered by both local and State government before anyone decides it. Beyond the bodies on the board:

  • The Planning Commission decides subdivision of freehold land and some categories of development.
  • The Minister for Planning can call in certain categories of subdivision and development and decide them.

The guides

Five guides: one for each pathway, one for review, and one for what follows an approval (its conditions, its lapse date, and changing it).

  1. Lodging a DA and the decision clockAcceptance in 7 days, advertising, referral, and the 60 or 90 days a local government has to decide.
  2. Development Assessment PanelsWho may opt in, the three panels, who sits on them, and the report the local government writes.
  3. The Part 11B significant development pathwayThe value thresholds, renewable energy, the 120 days and the Statutory Planning Committee.
  4. Review at the State Administrative TribunalWho can ask for a review, what can be reviewed, and why neighbours cannot start one.
  5. Conditions, lapse dates and changesThe tests a condition must pass, how long an approval lasts, and amending it later.