SATTERLEY Property Group has succeeded in delaying a directions hearing on North Stoneville SP 34 while it waits for a federal government environmental decision on the proposal.

On Wednesday, August 14 the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage (DPLH) said at the request of Satterley the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) made orders at a directions hearing on Friday, August 9 to adjourn the SAT proceedings until a further directions hearing to be held on Friday, October 4.

“The applicant has sought an adjournment from the SAT to await the outcomes of their application to the commonwealth for approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999,’’ a DPLH spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, Save Perth Hills (SPH) said it is seek ing to ‘intervene’ as an official ‘party’ in the SAT hearing.

Prior to the directions hearing moving to October 4 a North Stoneville update by DPLH said applications to intervene under section 37(3) of the State Administrative Tribunal Act 2004 or to make submissions under 242 of the Planning and Development Act 2005 were to be made to the tribunal by August 23.

SPH chair Peter Brazier said if successful, SPH would be only the third external group in almost 20 years to be accepted in this type of hearing.

Mr Brazier said Satterley wanted to wait for federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s decision on its EPBC application and proposed offset plan – due on September 18.

He said Satterley needed to prove to the federal minister they could offset the loss of about 200ha of forest and bush, including endangered black cockatoo habitat at Stoneville by purchasing similar land in another location.

The original North Stoneville structure plan 34 was refused by the Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) in July 2020 and Satterley applied to SAT for a review of the refusal.

Until Friday’s adjournment a directions hearing had been listed for August 30 to enable SAT to continue programming the matter towards a final hearing.