The following communication in personal email form was posted to Local Authority Councils during February 2015. (under the Subject heading –  ‘Planning initiative’.) –

For attention of……………………………………..                                                       (copy also to CEO)             To: The Mayor (or President) and Councillors, City (or Shire) of ………………………………

I am attaching herewith information about a serious and constructive initiative

that you and Councillor colleagues may find interesting and useful – in your dual personal role representing local people, and in decision-making on creative forward Planning. This initiative is a voluntary community service venture prepared from an informed and well-researched position representing (unusually) an independent Social and Community perspective on a wide range of topical aspects concerning Urban Planning in the Perth Region.

The background to this initiative is that Planning decision-making now operates through elaborate state-wide processes intended to be scrupulously democratic and balanced fairly on behalf of the community in general.  The procedures have however become extremely complex and remote from the daily lives and comprehension of the average citizen.  For the process to remain relevant and democratic, while everyday lives of the ‘consumers’ are now changing so rapidly, all of us who are knowledgeable about and involved in any way in decision-making, have a responsibility to the community to ensure that we remain fully aware of their changing realities and perspectives.

Therefore, this initiative is an attempt to address these issues by empowering citizens (and decision-makers) to exchange constructive information and viewpoints  in an open and independent forum on a website free from advertising distractions [ Planning for People WA (www.pfpwa.com) ]. Factual information is included that explores the important issues in an insightful, educative (and occasionally controversial) way, especially to promote sharing of visions about future needs and lifestyles; – that Planning decisions today are supposed to serve – and will heavily constrain.

Planning future living-environments in our modern City Region is faced with unprecedented urban population growth and wider choices of preferred home environment and lifestyles, made possible through enormous advances in affordable personalised consumer technology. Enhanced creative design in all aspects of the ‘fabric for living’ has also become subject to fluctuating fashion, now extending to whole dwelling scale by selective commercial marketing of seductive lifestyle images by commercial site developers – (who sadly with our present planning system often in reality carry forward no responsibility whatsoever for the resulting form and convenience of the resulting neighbourhood environment).

As the functions of your Council are strongly community-focussed, your support in any way consistent with your own policies, to engage the attention and interest of the general public in this project would no doubt be appreciated by them – and of course Councillors themselves and others in your Local Authority would also be most welcome to participate informally on the website.

Any constructive feedback (not necessarily for publication if you prefer) concerning the objectives and usefulness of this venture would be appreciated.
(Please feel free to reprint, circulate or discuss any of the content on the website as you wish – possibly amongst local citizens if you approve of the concept – using only the normal courtesy of maintaining the integrity of themes as presented and acknowledging the source.)

Many thanks for your attention        ………………………….      (Website Administrator)

(The Attachment herewith is a photo-colour reprint from the current Home Page of the website)