Top planner Matt Cuthbert defends Shire of Augusta-Margaret River against protest group claims

One of the Shire’s top planners has launched a personal defence of the local government. With the council last week passing the new draft planning scheme on for the Minister’s consideration, Shire of Augusta-Margaret River planning and regulatory services manager Matt Cuthbert prefaced proceedings with a speech he noted was his personal opinion, but also informed by his professional expertise. Mr Cuthbert rejected calls from last week’s special afternoon forum where stakeholders had been invited to pitch last-minute concerns about Local Planning Scheme 2 before it was considered this week by councillors tasked with approving it for the WA Planning Commission’s review. The past two years had seen fiery public debate about the scheme. Central to that drama – and key stakeholders triggering Mr Cuthbert’s response – were the Margaret River Coastal Residents Association and the Surfrider’s Preserve Gnarabup campaign. In its focus on defeating a proposed five-star resort and associated de facto village project at Gnarabup, Surfrider had already gone to war with the Shire questioning its moves around tourism zoning and alleged misinformation around the release of details to councillors as well as the public. However, Mr Cuthbert said the protest group’s eleventh-hour pitch to establish “special control areas” would effectively “sterilise” tourism development at the Gnarabup headland. “Some significant statements were made regarding the way the Shire’s planning framework ought to be dealing with the issue of bushfire,” Mr Cuthbert said. Those comments reflected “tourism development should be prohibited,” the manager said. “The absence of a special control area says nothing about the Shire’s commitment to protecting its residents from the threat of bushfire,” Mr Cuthbert said. “That is something we take very seriously and I know the people within our organisation who are more specifically involved in that pursuit and the volunteers who also dedicate themselves to that cause would be particularly concerned if I was to suggest otherwise.” Mr Cuthbert said the request from Surfrider and MRCRA meant introducing planning changes without any public consultation. “This device would remove development potential from land, and to do so without a significant amount of consultation, which has been a key principle of the local planning scheme review process, would in my view be unacceptable,” he said. “This is particularly problematic where a special control area seeks to override the purpose that land is zoned for in a manner that would limit or in some cases entirely sterilise the use of a significant number of landowners’ properties without any discussion with them.” Deputy Shire president Tracey Muir later moved to have the Shire consider investigating the merits of SCAs and for a report to be brought back in mid-2025.