Country planning

This region has four local governments covering an area of 135,277 square kilometres – Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne.

Encompassing nearly a third of Western Australia’s geographic area, the Goldfields–Esperance region is the State’s largest.

The Great Southern is internationally recognised for its biodiversity. It has abundant environmentally protected areas, dramatic coastal landscapes and rolling cropping lands.

The Kimberley is in the northern most region of Western Australia. There are four local governments in the Kimberley: Broome, Derby/West Kimberley, Halls Creek and Wyndham-East Kimberley.

The Mid West region comprises 17 local governments and is divided into three sub-regions: the Batavia Coast, North Midlands and the Murchison.

Encompassing 507,896 square kilometres across a vast array of landscapes, the Pilbara region is divided into four local government authorities: the Shire of Ashburton, the Shire of East Pilbara, the City of Karratha, and the Town of Port Hedland.

The South West region stretches from Yarloop in the North to Walpole in the South and Boyup Brook to the west, encompassing 12 local governments.

There are 43 local governments in the Wheatbelt region, which loosely surrounds the border of the metropolitan region, north to Jurien Bay, east to Southern Cross, and south to Darkan.

The Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage manages the Planning for Aboriginal Communities Program on behalf of the WAPC in partnership with the Department of Housing.

The central regions land capacity analysis provides a broad overview of the land capacity of settlements in the Mid West and Goldfields–Esperance regions with respect to forecast population growth.

The WAPC, in partnership with Regional Development Commissions, Regional Development Australia and local governments has prepared regional planning and infrastructure frameworks for the State’s eight country planning regions.

Prepared as part of the Urban Development Program, and encompassing the former Country Land Development Program (CLDP), Regional Land Supply Assessments (formerly the Regional HotSpots) report on major regional centres across the State on an as required basis.

Guidelines and fact sheets have been prepared to assist local governments and the planning industry in dealing with issues associated with planning for rural areas.

The regional north land capacity analysis provides a broad overview of the land capacity of settlements in the Gascoyne, Indian Ocean Territories, Kimberley and Pilbara regions with respect to forecast population growth.