COMMUNITY representatives have met with City of Swan planning review consultant Len Kosova from LK Advisory in the next stage of the process.

Mr Kosova is the cofounder and director of LK Advisory with more than three decades of experience and expertise in state urban and regional planning.

LK Advisory are an independent provider of expert WA planning system advice who work with local government, state government and private sector clients.

Mr Kosova is also a DevelopmentWA board member and the DevelopmentWA Midland land redevelopment committee chairperson.

Committee community representative Dixon Lowe said the community was pleased to have been offered an extended meeting with the consultant.

“We were quite pleased to have been able to meet with the consultant and thought he had devoted a good amount of time to hearing out the community representatives,” he said.

“Three community groups received an invitation to an individual meeting with Mr Kosova.

“We were told the City of Swan chief executive officer Stephen Cain would also attend the meeting.

“Mr Cain made introductions and left the meeting early and the end of the discussion time was between us and the independent consultant.

“Mr Kosova made very clear the importance of his independence and community members were unconstrained as long as it was within the terms of reference.”

Community members met with Mr Kosova on August 11 and 13 with three main cases being brought forward and highlighted for the consultant.

The main three cases put forward by the community for the consultant to review were the developments in The Vines, the Hazelmere data centre and the Midway Ford’s application handling under delegated authority.

While community members expressed satisfaction at their interactions with Mr Kosova, they said uncertainty around the terms of reference for the review lingered.

“The reviewer indicated an evaluation of the city planning system and practices, whereas community have maintained that it’s not what planners say they do, it’s what they do,” Mr Lowe said.

“How well have the City of Swan planners applied the state planning framework in the examples provided by community?

“At this point, the community groups are still requesting the agreed terms of reference, as they are not publicly available, and a comparison with the requirements requested by the city of the consultant is currently not possible.”

Echo News asked the City of Swan whether concerns still existed regarding the review’s terms of reference and whether the final report was on course to return to council by December.

City of Swan chief executive officer Stephen Cain said the review was going according to what was publicly outlined by the city.

“The planning review is progressing in accordance with the terms of reference adopted by council in May 2026 and as published on the city’s website,” he said.