FAQs

The Dunsborough Town Centre (DTC) provides goods and services for the residents and visitors of Dunsborough, Quindalup, Naturaliste, Eagle Bay, Bunker Bay, Yallingup, Yallingup Hills, Quedjinup, Injidup - and everywhere in between!

The role of Dunsborough has changed over time - the once small settlement has grown into a major townsite that has seen rapid growth in recent decades. The 2021 census found that the population of ‘6281’ (Dunsborough, Quindalup, Quedjinup, Naturaliste, Eagle Bay, Bunker Bay) was just over 8,500. Based on previous census data, the average population increase has varied from 3.4% to 3.7% since 2011. The PSP projects a population of approximately 12,600 by 2032.

In fact, Dunsborough is the third largest settlement in the sub-region, and a highly popular tourist destination for Western Australians as well as interstate and international visitors. It plays an important role in providing for day to day needs such as groceries, retail goods, medical and professional services. The DTC also provides a variety of dining and entertainment options which are popular among both locals and visitors.

As the DTC grows there will be opportunities for services and retail choices that are not currently available. 

Expenditure in the DTC
Did you know; during March 2021 – February 2022 the local community spent $45.5 million on groceries, $30 million on dining and entertainment, and $11 million on professional services. During the same period visitors spent $38 million on dining and entertainment and $12 million on retail stores and clothing.

The Dunsborough Town Centre (DTC) plays an important role in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste sub-region. It is one of the major centres for economic, social and cultural life in the Busselton District. As the resident and visitor population numbers grow, the town centre must evolve to accommodate a greater number of people. This will necessarily involve new development, which in turn provides an opportunity to improve the town by consolidating and building on the positive attributes and character that contribute to the appeal of Dunsborough.

The City aims to support and pro-actively plan for employment growth and economic development within the DTC so that it is activated both day and night. This is proposed to be achieved by:

• Encouraging development along ‘main street’ lines that are attractive and inviting for locals and visitors (rather than within ‘big box’ shopping centres), with streets that are pedestrian friendly and provide a mix of public spaces, and a range commercial land uses such as shops, cafés/restaurants, bars and offices
• Providing opportunity to deliver housing diversity through mixed use buildings that include apartments and tourism accommodation; and buildings that are appropriately scaled consistent with the character and identity of the town

A Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) guides future zoning, subdivision and development within the defined precinct area.

Precincts require a higher level of planning and design focus due to their complexity. In the case of the Dunsborough Town Centre (DTC), some of the factors contributing to the complexity are:

• Ecological and social/cultural importance of Dugalup Brook.
• Social and environmental importance of the existing parks and green spaces.
• An established, ad-hoc street network that is not laid out in a grid-like manner.
• Long street blocks that restrict the movement of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.
• Prioritisation of cars rather than pedestrians and cyclists. 
• Lack of car parking supply to provide for expected demand in the long term, and particularly a lack of sites to provide all day car parking on the periphery of the DTC.
• Land uses catering for the long-term day-to-day needs of the local service population and demand from a high volume of visitors.
• Buildings that don’t necessarily have a defined architectural style, but contribute to the open and relaxed character that exists in a regional town.

The DTC is defined as an ‘activity centre’ precinct because of the important role it plays in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste sub-region and the Busselton district.

The Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) area incorporates the Dunsborough Town Centre (DTC). This includes all retail and commercial areas, inclusive of Clark Street which was rezoned from ‘Light Industry’ to ‘Business’ (now ‘Centre’) in 2019. It also includes fringing residential areas zoned for higher density development and low-key commercial land use as well as the Dugalup Brook reserves.

A number of strategic planning initiatives over the past 10+ years have contributed to deciding the boundary of the precinct area.

• The Local Commercial Planning Strategy (2011) and Local Cultural Planning Strategy (2011) provided recommendations on zoning, land use and built form in the Dunsborough Town Centre (DTC) and peripheral residential areas.
• The findings of the Commercial and Cultural Planning Strategies were set out in the Dunsborough Town Centre Conceptual Plan (2014) (DTCCP) – this was the first time that a focus area for a higher level of planning was depicted on a map.
• The DTCCP focus area guided the boundary of the precinct area, although it was changed to include additional land following submissions received during the public consultation period for Amendment 1 to the City of Busselton Local Planning Scheme No. 1.

The boundary may be further changed following the current community consultation period.

During 2018 the City undertook broad, community-wide engagement as part of the Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) preparation process, with an aim to understand the aspirations and matters of importance affecting residents and other relevant stakeholders.

This early engagement was marketed as Re: Dunsborough, advertised regularly in the local newspaper and on the City’s community information and social media pages. It was carried out in two stages:

1. An online “Your Say” discussion forum, open for a period of three months. Participants were able to put forward their concerns and ideas on the future growth and development of the Dunsborough Town Centre (DTC), and others were able to vote for/against those ideas. 1,600 people visited the online forum and 612 downloaded information.
2. An interactive pop-up consultation hub, open for a period of five days (including the day of the popular Hannay Lane Street Party). A range of interactive engagement instruments were used during this consultation.

Some of the most common themes raised through Re: Dunsborough were:

• Retain the existing open spaces and plant more trees for shade and fauna habitat.
• Improve the connectivity to the foreshore, and between commercial sites in the main streets.
• Activate the town centre through mixed land uses, markets, alfresco dining, street art etc.
• Improve the street interface on multiple sites, including improvements for vacant sites.
• Allow buildings that are creative but respect human scale, as well as the beachside locality; restrict high rise development (greater than four storey).
• Create a pedestrian friendly town centre; reduce the number of vehicles.
• Move parking to the rear of buildings and relocate large car parks to the periphery of the town centre

Other stakeholder discussion and participation workshops have been carried out with both small, informal gatherings and larger, more structured events.

This engagement provided valuable input into the preparation of the Precinct Structure Plan, with common values and aspirations emerging.

The Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) includes a number of recommended actions, including how the PSP should be implemented.

Implementation of the PSP is largely based on Amendment 52 which proposes a number of changes to the City’s Local Planning Scheme No. 21. These changes relate to zoning, land use and built form, for example:

• Revising (reducing) the permissible residential density for most of the PSP area, and prohibiting some currently permissible land uses that are not appropriate or achievable in the context of the Dunsborough Town Centre.
• Introducing development standards to protect the environmental value and amenity of Dugalup Brook, Lions Park and Seymour Park.
• Introducing requirements around car parking, vehicle access points, and vehicle movement between adjoining sites.
• Introducing development standards to activate building frontages so they are responsive to the streetscape.

Full details can be found in the Amendment 52 report.

Under the Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015, submissions must be lodged in a formal manner.

You are encouraged to read the information on the City of Busselton’s Your Say page or attend one of our pop-up events tofind out more information before you complete your submission via the 'Make a Submission' button below.

All formal submissions must be considered. A schedule of key issues raised during consultation will be drafted for presentation to Council and, if necessary, modifications to the Precinct Structure Plan and Amendment 52 may be recommended.

All submissions and recommended modifications will be publicly available through the agenda and minutes of Council towards the end of 2022.

The Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) and Amendment 52 will be advertised for a period of approximately 42 days.

Officers will then prepare a report for Council that considers all formal submissions and, if necessary, recommend modifications. Council will be asked to endorse the final PSP and the Amendment for submission to the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC).

The WAPC will make a final decision on the approval of the PSP, and make a recommendation on the approval of Amendment 52 to the Minister.

Through this process changes may be required to the PSP and/or the Amendment.

It is proposed that the PSP will be implemented through a number of different actions. One of those actions is to amend the City’s Local Planning Scheme No. 21 through “Amendment 52”. Amendment 52 proposes various changes to zoning, land use permissibility and built form controls for development in the Dunsborough Town Centre (DTC). Among those changes, Amendment 52 proposes to reduce building height in the DTC to 3 storeys.

The Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015 outlines what can be taken to account by a decision-maker in determining an application for development. Once a draft scheme amendment has been advertised, the decision maker is to have due regard to the amendment (referred to as a planning instrument). The weight that should be given to the instrument is determined by reference to a range of factors outlined in legal decisions. Similarly, a draft PSP that has been advertised, may be a relevant factor in determining an application. 

However, an approval process for all draft planning instruments needs to be followed. To date, Council have endorsed the draft PSP and Amendment 52 for advertising only – neither has been subject to public or government agency scrutiny (although that is the purpose of the current consultation).

Once this consultation period is closed, officers will review all formal submissions and as a result, may recommend modifications to either proposal. The submissions and recommended modifications will form part of a report to Council, who may/may not “adopt” the PSP and Amendment (Council may also decide to carry out further consultation on the recommended modifications).

The Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) will make the final decision on whether the PSP is a suitable planning instrument. The Minister for Planning will make the final decision for Amendment 52. It may be that the WAPC or Minister require that the advertised versions be further modified prior to final approval.

If a planning instrument such as the PSP or Amendment are not “advanced” far enough through their own assessment process, they cannot be given a great deal of weight when assessing an application for development approval.

• In 2017 the zoning of Clark St was changed from ‘Light Industry’ to ‘Business’, which was the same zoning as the town centre. In 2019 the whole ‘Business’ zone was renamed to ‘Centre’ zone.
• Also in 2017, a ‘R-AC3’ mixed use residential density coding was applied to the whole of the Business (now Centre) zone. The purpose of this was to enable apartment buildings that would have commercial land uses on lower floors and residential apartments on upper floors. In 2017, under the Residential Design Codes, R-AC3 would have resulted in buildings of 4-5 storeys (R-AC4 didn’t exist in the Residential Design Codes in 2017).
• In 2019 the Residential Design Codes (which is a State planning policy that applies to the whole of Western Australia) was split into two different volumes – Volume 2 deals specifically with apartment buildings. This is when the R-AC4 mixed use residential density coding first came into existence. R-AC4 allows buildings of 3 storeys, with greater side and rear setbacks, lower boundary walls, and a lower plot ratio than R-AC3; R-AC3 was also changed in the Residential Design Codes to allow buildings of 6 storeys.
• A full summary of ‘primary controls’ (height, setbacks etc) for R-AC3 and R-AC4 can be found in the Residential Design Codes Vol. 2.
• Under clause 4.8 of Local Planning Scheme No. 21, 3 storey dwellings would also be considered in Hakea Way and Kunzea Place
• provided the proposal meets other requirements of the Residential Design Codes Volume 1 (applies to single houses and grouped dwellings). This height control was also introduced in 2017.