Lot 4 Underwood Ave

General information

Lot 4 and Lot 105 (No 1) Underwood Avenue, located on the corner of Underwood Avenue and Selby Street, has a total lot area of 67.429ha. The land is owned by the University of Western Australia. Approximately half of the site is used by the university as a research facility, while the other half remains undeveloped bushland. The university has attempted to develop a portion of this bushland area for residential purposes since 1999. The land is zoned “Urban” under the Metropolitan Regions Scheme and “Development” under the City of Nedlands Town Planning Scheme No. 2. It is also affected by the buffer zone from the Subiaco Waste Water Treatment Plant and the site has been identified in the Bush Forever plans.

Development of the site requires as a minimum

• Environmental approvals at State and Federal level,
• Approval under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972,
• Subdivision approval from the Western Australian Planning Commission,
• The approval of an Outline Development Plan in accordance with the City’s Town Planning Scheme No. 2.

Latest update

On 14 July 2010 the Minister for Environment and Youth Hon Donna Faragher MLC granted state environment approval for the latest University of Western Australia (UWA) proposal for Lot 4 Underwood Avenue to subdivide the site into:

• 157 single residential lots
• 8 grouped/multiple dwelling lots
• an area of 13.8ha comprising of 3 lots which is to be set aside for conservation purposes
• an area of 2.6680ha provided for public open space and
• the remaining area of the lot, which is located within the odour buffer zone, is earmarked for non-residential purposes.

All proposed residential lots are located outside of the odour buffer line imposed as a result of the Subiaco Wastewater Treatment Plant. The location of the conservation areas was determined in this approval. The current subdivision proposal is the product of extensive consultation and negotiation between stake-holders over a long period of time including compulsory conferencing ordered by the State Administrative Tribunal. With the environmental approval in place the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) as the decision maker for subdivisions is now in a position to make a decision on the subdivision application. As the City provides comments on subdivision proposals the Council of the City of Nedlands considered draft conditions for the proposed subdivision at its meeting on 24 August 2010. The City is now awaiting the determination of the WAPC in regard to the subdivision proposal.