Tribunal scolds Satterley over unrelenting Perth Hills estate row

The tribunal overseeing developer Nigel Satterley’s bid to revive his trouble-plagued Perth Hills housing estate has scolded the property mogul over the prolonged row as protesters take their campaign to the city centre.

The 33-year bid to establish a sprawling suburban-style town site north of Mundaring was dealt another blow in December when the state’s peak planning body knocked back the latest iteration over bushfire risk concerns.

Save Perth Hills protesters in the Supreme Court gardens on Friday ahead of the SAT hearing.

It was the latest in a series of hurdles for the developer, whose pursuit has been stymied by opposition from local councils and the state’s planning authorities, as well as an unrelenting campaign to “save Perth Hills”.

But Satterley Property Group lawyer Alex McGlue made it clear the developer had no intention of abandoning that pursuit in the State Administrative Tribunal on Friday.

Instead, McGlue requested more time to interrogate the WA Planning Commission’s rejection of the proposal and possibly amend the structure plan ahead of a formal judicial hearing.

Senior tribunal member Stephen Willey expressed frustration at the handling of the case, highlighting the appeal had been afoot for more than three years and subject to more than half a dozen rounds of mediation.

He said it was likely the matter would continue to draw on public resources, with a judicial officer and panel set to oversee a hearing that could last several weeks.

Willey said estimates on the likely duration of the dispute were little more than “a throw of the dart”.

“This matter has a long history … it has been in the system since 2020, and we’re now in 2024,” he said.

“It’s been to a number of mediation conferences, all of which require public resources.”

The matter was adjourned until March 8, at which time the tribunal is likely to consider seven applications from parties hoping to intervene in the row.

Satterley has been attempting to establish the town site on 535 hectares of land in Stoneville owned by the Perth Anglican Diocese, since the church recruited him in 2016 to develop 1000 lots to house 2800 people, three schools and a 193-hectare conservation area.

The WAPC’s latest refusal of the bid was underpinned by a 1200-page report penned by the state’s planning department, which claimed the new plan still fell short of providing adequate technical traffic impact and bushfire data.

Satterley Property Group said a simulation of both the 2014 Parkerville and 2021 Wooroloo bushfires found a safe evacuation could be facilitated based on the staged development plan and planned road network upgrades.

But the commission confirmed the decision was based on the plan’s inability to adequately demonstrate the threat of bushfire risk, including safe evacuation, as well as the true impact of traffic on the road network.

It also flagged inconsistencies and discrepancies in technical information throughout the supplied documents.

McGlue said his client hoped to address those discrepancies ahead of a formal judicial hearing.

Save Perth Hills chair Peter Brazier said the adjournment request by Satterley was insulting, given the level
of evidence proving the bushfire risks to an increasingly vulnerable community.

“The Tribunal made it very clear today that it was not impressed by Satterley’s desire for even more time to get their plan ‘right’… they’ve had eight years to ‘get it right’ and the Anglican Church has had 33 years to get it ‘right’, but all their efforts continue to fail, dangerously and dismally,” he said.

“The relentless rejections are telling Satterley and the Church, in no uncertain terms, that this region of Perth Hills is too dangerous for urban-style development.”

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