What is already required?
New homes are already affected by national building rules, State planning rules and local policies. LPP 3.27 should therefore be understood as an additional layer. Existing regulation does not make a local policy unnecessary, but it changes the question: what important gap remains, and what extra outcome would the draft deliver?
Energy and thermal performance
The NCC 2022 framework introduced a 7-star NatHERS-equivalent thermal benchmark and whole-of-home energy requirements for new houses. Western Australia implemented NCC 2022 in stages, so the applicable requirement depends on the building approval date and the current WA transitional settings. Whole-of-home assessment covers fixed services and can recognise on-site solar generation. A local PV minimum may still secure solar capacity in particular cases, but its additional effect should be considered against the building-code framework that applies to the project.
Planning and climate responsive design
R-Codes Volume 1 deals with site planning matters including solar access, outdoor areas, ventilation, trees and landscaping, while NatHERS predicts thermal performance. These controls do not by themselves show why a particular design opportunity is or is not realised. As an analytical point, orientation, window placement, shade, vegetation and ventilation may be affected early by subdivision, site layout and approval decisions. If outcomes fall short, the cause may lie in the rule, the site, design practice, incentives, skills, information or administration; the response should address the cause.
Water and stormwater
State Planning Policy 2.9 Water, operational since 18 December 2025, requires water-resource management to be considered in planning and development. R-Codes and other controls also address parts of stormwater and site design. Rainwater and greywater systems can reduce potable-water demand, but they operate differently and their results depend on system design, connected uses, rainfall, occupancy and maintenance.
Trees and landscaping
R-Codes Volume 1, Town Local Planning Policy 3.25 Tree Retention and Local Planning Policy 3.16 Landscaping and Water Sensitive Urban Design contain requirements relevant to trees or landscaping. The State Urban Greening Strategy provides a broader direction for canopy and vegetation. A local ESD policy may add further greening measures, but residents may wish to ask what additional result it produces and how overlapping controls will work together.
Materials and construction impacts
Material choice, building size, durability, reuse and construction waste affect environmental impact. Within the bounded building and planning sources examined for this website, no comprehensive ordinary-house measure of embodied environmental impacts was identified. This may be a coverage gap, but the statement is not a comprehensive regulatory review. Any local response would need reliable evidence, workable assessment and room for better materials and methods as they emerge.
Three useful tests
- Coverage: is an important outcome not adequately addressed?
- Implementation: is a sound requirement or principle already present but not producing the intended result?
- Coherence: do the different rules reinforce one another, duplicate effort or create tensions?