Road Closure Applications
Purchasing land at the front, side or rear of properties
On occasions, landowners may wish to purchase land next to their property that they feel is not being used for anything in particular and therefore may be surplus to the City’s requirements. Usually, the land they wish to purchase is a road reserve. A road reserve is the land between the boundary of a property and the road, including the verge, which may comprise a pavement or footpath, as well as landscaping such as trees. The land is owned by the Crown but managed by the City.
Road closure
If landowners wish to purchase a portion of land adjoining their property, they must make an application to the City to close that portion of the road. An application fee of $1220.00 is required.
What is the process for road closure?
Being Crown land, the road reserve must be purchased from the Department of Regional Development & Lands(DRDL). However, before consideration of the application or advice of the cost of purchase by the DRDL, the following steps take place:
Step 1: Consideration by the City
The City’s engineers and planners initially consider the road closure application taking into account the following:
- Is the road reserve needed in the City’s future plans for the road?
- Will the road closure be detrimental to traffic safety?
- Does the application comply with planning principles?
- Few applications will progress if the above criteria are not satisfied.
Step 2: Consultation with the Department of Regional Development & Lands (DRDL)
Support is required by the DRDL before the City can consider an application for closure. If the DRDL does not support the application for road closure, the application cannot proceed. The City advises the applicant by letter of the outcome of the DRDL’s comments.
Step 3: Consultation with servicing authorities
If the DRDL and the City are willing to progress the application, the servicing authorities, ATCO Gas Australia, Telstra, Western Power and the Water Corporation, are consulted to determine whether they object to the road closure and if there are services (pipes and/or cables) located within the portion of road reserve being considered for closure. The City will ask the service authorities if the services can be modified, removed or relocated if necessary, what costs are involved and any conditions that they wish to be applied. The City then forwards this information to the applicant to see if he/she wishes to proceed now that most of the costs are known. It should be noted that, on occasions, services and servicing plants are too costly to modify or the service authority will not allow it and therefore the application cannot proceed.
Step 4: Advertising for public comment (35 days)
If the DRDL supports the proposal and the service authorities do not object, the proposed road closure is advertised for public comment for period of 35 days. Advertising involves writing to all adjoining landowners of the road requesting their comments, the erection of a sign in the road, and an advertisement in the local newspaper. The costs of all advertising are borne by the applicant. The advertising period allows residents to submit an objection or support for the proposal.
Step 5: Consideration by Council
If all the necessary support has been given by the servicing authorities and the City’s engineers and planners, and all the adjoining landowners support the proposal, a report is prepared for consideration by Council soon after advertising. Comments from all submissions are included in this report. If Council does not support the application, it cannot proceed and the road cannot be closed.
Step 6: Action by Department of Regional Development & Lands (DRDL)
If Council and DRDL support the application then formal actions commence by DRDL to close the road and the applicant is contacted direct by DRDL for this purpose. DRDL will provide a cost for the portion of road to be closed. Subject to receiving the required support, a simple application can take in the order of six months to complete, with more complicated applications taking longer.
Further information
Please contact Planning Services on 9400 4371.
Last updated 12 January 2012
