The WA government has released a revised bushfire policy that will remove more than 4500 urban properties from a list of bushfire-prone areas. 

The policy, which will become operational on November 18, includes new guidelines and a map of bushfire-prone areas to help inform planning decisions for property developments.  

Sections of Perth, Peel and Bunbury will be identified within Area 1, further clarifying bushfire precaution measures needed for development. New considerations have also been made for areas with complex environmental characteristics.  

The guidelines deliver on the third part of the state’s action plan, prompted by the 2019 bushfire framework review, which focuses on addressing previous policy implementation issues.  

WA Planning Minister John Carey says the changes have come from continued consultation with relevant stakeholders regarding the best ways to protect properties from fire.  

“In the past four years, we’ve considered extensive feedback from industry and the community to overcome previous inconsistencies around bushfire risk and make major improvements so that application of the Policy is more in line with the level of bushfire risk,” Mr Carey said.  

“We now have a flexible, pragmatic and comprehensive policy that prioritises bushfire requirements early in the planning process and establishes a much more measured and practical response to development within bushfire prone areas.”  

More information on the guidelines can be viewed here; the revised map is available here.