Broome Local Planning Strategy and Scheme

The Shire of Broome has a vision to transform the Broome Townsite into a thriving regional city, offering an enhanced quality of life for its residents while becoming a sought-after global tourist destination. To unlock the full potential of Broome, it became evident that a review of the Shire’s local planning framework was necessary to address current challenges, anticipate emerging trends, and align with the State’s reform agenda. For this project, Hames Sharley led a multidisciplinary team that included Franklin Planning and Shape Urban. Together, the team collaborated with Shire to formulate a new Local Planning Strategy and Local Planning Scheme No. 7.

The stakeholder community in the Shire of Broome is diverse, consisting of a mix of long-term residents, transient populations, recognised Aboriginal Traditional Owners, and significant numbers of tourists and businesses. With a wide range of interests, including energy and resources-based industries as well as service and hospitality sectors, the team devised a comprehensive engagement strategy to ensure meaningful participation from all relevant groups and stakeholders. Various methods were used, such as individual meetings, community workshops, open days, school and market pop-ups, and online engagement through platforms like online mapping surveys.

The project was among the first formulated in accordance with the Local Planning Strategy Guidelines (2021). To achieve this, we proactively engaged with the Department of Planning, Lands, and Heritage, holding regular meetings and staying updated on the latest developments to ensure the project remained in line with the evolving planning reform.