Minister approves higher density rezoning of Albert Road lots in Bunbury

The Minister for Planning has approved Amendment No. 17 to the City of Bunbury Local Planning Scheme No. 8, rezoning Lots 15–17, 42 and 100 Albert Road, Bunbury, from “Residential R20/30” to “Mixed Use—Residential” with an R-Code density notation of “R60”. The approval was granted on 13 October 2026 and notified for public information in the Government Gazette of Western Australia No. 138 of 30 October 2026, in the Planning section of the edition, under notice PL401 and file reference TPS/3393.

The decision lifts the density coding on the Albert Road land from the previously applied R20/30 notation to R60, and simultaneously changes the zone from a residential zone to a mixed use zone. Under the state residential design codes, the R-Code number denotes the dwelling density applied to a site, so the shift from the R20/30 coding to R60 represents a substantially higher development yield on the same land.

What the notice changes

The published notice is a single-purpose amendment to the scheme map, and its operative provisions are narrow and specific:

• The instrument is City of Bunbury Local Planning Scheme No. 8 Amendment No. 17, prepared under file TPS/3393.
• The map amendment rezon es Lots 15–17, 42 and 100 Albert Road, Bunbury.
• The former zoning is recorded as “Residential R20/30”.
• The new zoning is “Mixed Use—Residential”.
• The new zone carries an R-Code density notation of “R60”.
• The amendment was approved by the Minister for Planning on 13 October 2026.

No other provision of the scheme is amended by the notice, and no conditions, development caps or time limits are attached to the rezoning in the gazetted text.

Statutory pathway and signatories

The notice states that the amendment is notified for public information in accordance with section 87 of the Planning and Development Act 2005, the provision that governs the publication of approved local planning scheme amendments once the Minister has determined them. The gazettal is the step that makes the approval a matter of public record and marks the end of the amendment process at state level.

The notice is signed on behalf of the local government by J. De San Miguel, Mayor, and A. Ferris, Chief Executive Officer, of the City of Bunbury. Their signatures appear on the published instrument alongside the statement of the amendment’s purpose, confirming the local government’s role as the scheme’s owner and administering authority.

The gazettal follows the standard sequence for a scheme amendment in Western Australia: initiation by the local government, public advertising and consideration of submissions, assessment by the Western Australian Planning Commission and, finally, the Minister’s approval, which took effect with this publication. The notice itself records only the outcome and the amended map, not the earlier consultation record.

Relevance for residents and developers

Albert Road now carries a mixed use zoning with the highest density coding of the three notations involved in the change, which matters for anyone owning, buying or developing in the street. Landowners on the affected lots can in principle bring forward proposals at R60 density rather than at the former R20/30 rate, and the mixed use zoning broadens the range of development that can be considered compared with a straight residential coding.

For the wider city, the amendment signals that the City of Bunbury and the state government are using scheme amendments to concentrate additional housing capacity on established, serviced land rather than at the urban fringe. Any actual construction on the sites will still require development approval from the local government and must satisfy the design and density requirements of the scheme as amended.

Source: Government Gazette of Western Australia, No. 138, 30 October 2026, Planning, p. 2500 (official reference: PL401).