(12/2/2019) Green light for Freo's alternative approach to infill housing

The City of Fremantle’s ground-breaking new approach to infill housing in suburban areas, called the ‘Freo Alternative – Big Thinking about Small Housing’, is now official following approval by the Minister for Planning. 

In March last year the Fremantle Council voted to change the City’s Local Planning Scheme and adopt a new planning policy to stimulate development of a wider choice of housing in Fremantle’s suburban areas while maintaining what people value about their neighbourhoods. 

The changes were approved by the Minister for Planning, Rita Saffioti, earlier this month and will be published in the Government Gazette today.

Mayor Brad Pettitt said he hoped the Freo Alternative would be a demonstration of how local governments could work with the community on the often contentious issue of infill development.   

“The state government has set infill development targets across the metropolitan area to cater for population growth and limit urban sprawl, but infill developments are often met with a backlash from local residents and don’t always match local housing needs,” Mayor Pettitt said.

“Because of the widespread concern about the impact of infill development in our suburbs, we wanted to create a shared community vision of the future of housing in Fremantle.

“We needed to come up with a way of delivering more diverse and affordable housing while retaining the established form and feel that people love about where they live.

“The Freo Alternative is the result of years of research and community engagement, but I’m sure that hard work will pay off when we start to see infill developments that don’t detract from the amenity that attracts people to our suburbs in the first place.

“At the heart of the Freo Alternative is housing that is smaller, more sustainable and surrounded by open, green space. You could say this is housing that better meets the needs of residents in the 21st century.”

The Freo Alternative project began in 2014 when the Australian Urban Design Research Centre and local architects were engaged to model different small housing types and test if they could work in a Fremantle environment.

That was followed in 2016 with a widespread community engagement campaign to establish what attributes the community most valued about their suburb and the benefits and challenges of small housing types.

The City’s community engagement efforts were recognised with the Planning Minister’s Award at the 2017 Planning Institute Australia WA Awards for Excellence.

The Executive Director of the Property Council, Sandra Brewer, said the approval of the Freo Alternative was a welcome development.

“Across Perth we see examples of communities grappling with the challenge of providing housing diversity in infill areas, especially for low income or older person households,” Ms Brewer said.

“The Freo Alternative is a good initiative and will result in extra housing that suits the local community and will be welcomed by Freo locals.”

The proposed amendment to Fremantle’s Local Planning Scheme establishes six special control areas throughout the suburbs with special provisions for small infill development, as an alternative to traditional single lot subdivision.

Key provisions include:

Only applies to lots larger than 600 square metresDwellings to have a maximum floor area of 120 square metresMaximum of three dwellings on lots of 750 square metres or lessMinimum of 30 square metres of outdoor living area per dwellingDevelopments to have higher than standard energy efficiency ratings, and include solar panels, rainwater tanks, grey water systems or meet best practice accessibility standardsA minimum of 70 per cent of the entire development to be open spaceAt least one large tree to be retained or planted for each dwellingA maximum of one parking bay per dwellingDevelopments to be referred to the City’s Design Advisory Committee to consider design quality

The Freo Alternative will initially be applied to specific locations within the City of Fremantle - in sections of White Gum Valley, Hilton, O'Connor, Beaconsfield and Fremantle - that meet certain criteria regarding proximity to public transport, existing lot size and housing stock and heritage streetscapes.

The new provisions are subject to a five-year sunset clause.

For more information visit the Freo Alternative page on the City’s My Say Freo website.