FAQs

The Miller’s Crossing open space is located on the border of Carlisle and Lathlain on Raleigh Street and Bishopsgate Street. The specific details of each lot that makes up Miller’s Crossing are:

• Lot 1003 (No. 7) Raleigh Street, Carlisle – 2,081m2; 
• Lot 1004 (No. 6) Raleigh Street, Carlisle – 1,343m2; and 
• Lot 1005 (No. 45) Bishopsgate Street, Carlisle – 1,157m2. 

Fundamentally, Amendment 56 to Town Planning Scheme No. 1 proposes to:

• Change the zoning of the land that forms Millers Crossing open space to Residential R60. (Lot 1003 (No. 7) Raleigh Street, Carlisle – 2,081m2 and Lot 1004 (No. 6) Raleigh Street, Carlisle – 1,343m2; )
• Change the zoning of the unzoned land which is being used as part of John Bisset Reserve to 'Parks and Recreation. (Lot 1005 (No. 45) Bishopsgate Street, Carlisle – 1,157m2.)

You can read more detail on the main page and in the documents found in the Document Library. 

The land is owned by the Western Australian Planning Commission.

Amendment 56 was initiated by the Town in late 2011. The amendment was required following the amendment of the Perth Metropolitan Region Scheme which reduced the extent of the Roberts Road ‘Other Regional Roads’ Reservation, which formerly extended over a portion of the lots, with the balance of the lots being zoned ‘Residential R30’ under Town Planning Scheme No. 1 (TPS1). The rationalisation of the road reserve resulted in portions of the lots adjoining Roberts Road being neither reserved or zoned, thereby necessitating proposed Amendment 56 to TPS1.

 The Town initiated Amendment 56 seeking all of the land to be reserved ‘Parks and Recreation’ given the Town’s maintenance of the land and its use by the community as landscaped public open space following the completion of the Robert’s Road railway overpass in 2004. 

Following protracted consideration by the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC), the Town was advised of the Minister for Planning’s decision in 2017 to require the Town to modify and re-advertise the amendment with the Miller’s Crossing lots to instead be zoned ‘Residential’ with a density code of R30.

Readvertising of the modified amendment proved controversial and raised significant community concern primarily in relation to the potential loss of this open space and the removal of trees that could arise should the land be developed for residential purposes.

The Town was granted a request to defer the Minister’s final determination of the amendment in order to consider the outcomes the Town’s Public Open Space Strategy (POSS) completed in late 2019, as well as as the Town’s potential acquisition and options for the use/development of the land in 2020. These matters were the subject of significant community engagement, the outcomes of which reinforced previously raised community concerns and a desire for the Miller’s Crossing land to be maintained (and potentially purchased) as public open space.

In mid-2020 Council ultimately determined not to purchase the land given its significant cost and high level of investment in nearby open space as part of the Lathlain Park Redevelopment Project. The Council decided to instead focus the Town’s efforts on resolving gaps in walkable accessibility to open space identified by the POSS elsewhere in Carlisle through the implementation of the Carlisle Microparks Program funded through the Urban Forest Strategy. 

The Council also approved the commissioning of a site feature survey of the land to identify the trees potentially affected by future development and sought for the Town’s administration to advocate to the WAPC for the preparation of a Local Development Plan (LDP) to guide future residential development of the land in order to maximise opportunities for tree retention, should the Minister determine to approve Amendment 56 as was anticipated by the Town. 

The site feature survey and advocacy efforts were communicated to the WAPC in December 2020. The Town was advised that the amendment was due to be considered by the WAPC in Feb 2021 and that the Town’s recommended requirement for a LDP was not supported. Final ministerial consideration of Amendment 56 was then delayed until August 2021, following the conclusion of the State Government Election caretaker period.

The previous community feedback was specifically around the Town's actions to potentially purchase the land at the Miller's Crossing open space, and what could be done with it. Even though the decision has been made not to purchase the land, there is still a need to zone the land appropriately as it is currently not zoned at all in parts. In this instance, the proposed new zoning for the whole of the Miller's Crossing lots is 'Residential R60', as required by the Minister for Planning's decision of 2 August 2021.

To rezone the land, the Town needs to undertake a formal Scheme Amendment, which is a legislated process. A formal advertising period forms part of the process, with re-advertising required to occur where the Minister determines to modify the proposed amendment prior to its final determination.

After the consultation period closes on 23rd of January 2022 the following steps will be taken:

• Community feedback will be reviewed and compiled. 
• Amendment 56 together with the community feedback will be presented to a Council meeting for their consideration where they must pass a resolution on whether or not to support the modified amendment (with or without further modification) prior to its determination by the Minister. This will likely happen in March 2022. 
• After this occurs, the timing for final determination of the amendment will be at the discretion of the WAPC and Minister for Planning, however it is anticipated that this may occur by the end of 2022.
• If approved, the Town will change any precinct plans or documentation to reflect the new zoning status of the land, and the proposed zoning will be come into operation upon the publishing of a notice in the State Government Gazette. 
• Like any private land owner, the timeframe in which the sale and/or development of the Miller's Crossing land occurs will be at their discretion and will be subject to the usual planning and building approvals processes. 

You are able to read the Towns Public Open Space Strategy (POSS) in full here.

In general, the strategy makes the following conclusions:

Background information 

• The land known as Miller’s Crossing is currently used as a ‘local park’, being a small space that provides for the day to day recreation of the immediate residential population. 
• The land known as Miller’s Crossing also functions as passive open space with a traditional setting. This means that it is open space without organised sporting facilities but has areas of open turf, trees, and places for respite. 
• That Carlisle as a whole suburb has gaps in the supply of accessible public open space (within a 400m walkable catchment) for its residents. The gaps in supply do not exist around Millers Crossing and gaps and would not be created in that area by removing the open space provided by Millers Crossing.  Section 3.0 and 4.5 of Appendix A of the Public Open Space Strategy outlines the current supply gaps. 
• Carlisle is currently undersupplied with public open space having 2ha of public open space per 1000 persons in lieu of the recommended 3.36ha per 1000 persons. It is forecast that this shortfall will increase to 0.5ha of public open space per 1000 persons by 2036.

Overarching strategies 

• The focus of recommendations of the Public Open Space Strategy is to increase the supply of public open space appropriately, improve access to public open space and to improve the quality of the Towns public open space. 
• In relation to increasing supply, the strategy focuses on addressing the gaps in supply in identified gaps, where residents currently have no accessible public open space. This can be achieved via the purchase of new land, transforming drainage infrastructure, creating new public open space as part of future development and advocating for the sinking of the railway line.  The area in which the subject land sits does not have a gap in supply. 

Specific Recommendations 

• Appendix C of the Public Open Space Strategy provides a specific recommendations for the land at Millers Crossing. It states: 

“Millers Crossing was space retained by the state government for future road widening. This use is no longer required and has been offered for purchase to the Town. To assist with this decision the Public Open Space strategy has considered the retention of this space as POS. 

With the development of Tom Wright Park (Zone 2X) the community will continue to have pedestrian access to local parks, i.e. no additional gaps will occur. It is noted that utilising a population calculation Carlisle is undersupplied by POS. 

Millers Crossing has some significant trees, circled on map adjacent, both native and exotic species, and a good quality embankment vegetation to the north of the space. Other than bench seats there is no significant infrastructure on site. It is strongly recommended that the Town work with the State Government to advocate for the requirement to retain all mature trees on this lot should it be developed into the future. 

To date Millers Crossing has been considered Public Open Space by the community and maintained as such by the council. It should be noted that the community may oppose the development of this site.” 

The land was originally developed in the same way that all land in Carlisle was. In the 1950’s to 1960’s houses were built on quarter acre blocks and were home to several families. The Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) acquired the land to make room for the Millers Crossing railway bridge which was ultimately constructed in 2004. When the WAPC acquired the land, they rezoned large portions of it as ‘Other Regional Roads’ so that it could be used for any road widening needed as part of the bridge construction.

After the bridge was constructed, the Town decided to maintain the land as open space and it has been used as parkland ever since. The Town did not take ownership of the land.

In 2004 the Town started to maintain Miller's Crossing open space as parkland for community use. This was likely to make sure that land did not become derelict and an eyesore whilst it sat unused. On average, it has cost the Town $28,000 a year to maintain this land.

The Public Open Space Strategy advocates for retaining the significant trees if the land is sold. This is in keeping with the Town's Urban Forest Strategy.

To ensure the trees are retained as much as possible in the event the land is used for development, the Town would advocate for the WAPC to prepare a Local Development Plan to guide future development on site. A Local Development Plan (LDP) is a planning tool used to coordinate and facilitate the design of development on difficult lots. Given the subject site abuts an ‘Other Regional Road’ and there is a strong desire to ensure the retention of significant trees onsite the preparation of an LDP is well justified in this instance. Decision makers are to give ‘due regard’ to an approved LDP when making decisions in respect to the development of land. Once approved, an LDP is valid for a duration of ten (10) years. 

A zoning of 'Residential R60' means that the land has been set aside for residential style development at a density of R60. Residential development typically refers to things like houses and apartments. An R60 density allows minimum lots sizes of 120sqm for houses and 85sqm for multiple dwellings (town houses/apartments).

Development in a Residential R60 zone is general guided by the State's Draft Medium Density Codes and the Town's own local planning policies.

You are able to speak to the Western Australian Planning Commission as the owner of the site about their intended future development plans. Their contact details and information about what they do are located here: https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/western-australian-planning-commission