Victoria Park Draftsman

Victoria Park Draftsman for Town of Victoria Park Plans and Council Approval

The Town of Victoria Park runs the cheapest deemed-to-comply check in Perth. For $73, the Town will assess your single house or renovation plans and tell you in writing whether they are exempt from development approval. The Town’s own stated intent is to give applicants confidence that their proposal can proceed straight to a building permit.

Against a development application on a $200,000 renovation costing $640 and taking up to 90 days, that $73 is the best value item in the whole process. This page explains how it works and what else governs building here.

What a Victoria Park draftsman or Victoria Park drafter does for you

Victoria Park is inner-city, established, and mixed. Character housing through the older streets, higher density around the Albany Highway corridor, and a streetscape policy that varies the R-Codes.

For a Town of Victoria Park project that means:

Testing the design against Local Planning Policy 32, which lists what is exempt from development approval
Checking Local Planning Policy 25 Streetscape, which varies some R-Codes deemed-to-comply requirements and therefore changes what counts as compliant
Checking whether any element will be visible from the street, which is the trigger that pulls otherwise exempt structures back into an application
Preparing the plan set to a standard that will survive a deemed-to-comply check
Preparing documentation to the Town’s lodgement standard

We draw architectural and planning documentation. We do not produce structural engineering drawings or electrical design.

What “Victoria Park council approval” actually means

People use “council approval” to cover two or three separate things. They are assessed by different people under different legislation.

A building permit. The construction approval under the Building Act 2011, covering structural adequacy, fire separation, energy efficiency and compliance with the National Construction Code. You will almost always need this one.

Development approval, also called planning approval or a DA. The planning assessment against the R-Codes, the Town Planning Scheme and the Town’s local planning policies. On most smaller residential jobs, development approval is only needed where the design does not meet the deemed-to-comply criteria of R-Codes Volume 1, or of any local planning policy that amends or replaces those criteria. In Victoria Park that qualifier matters, because LPP 25 Streetscape does exactly that.

A deemed-to-comply check. Victoria Park calls it a Development Approval Exemption Check, it costs $73, and it applies to a single house or an extension or renovation to a single house. The Town describes its intent as giving applicants confidence that their proposal can proceed straight to a building permit. You email the application form to admin@vicpark.wa.gov.au with the property address and application type in the subject line, and the Town invoices you for the fee.

That check is the step most homeowners do not know exists. Where no development approval is needed, a building surveyor still wants written evidence of that before issuing a certificate of design compliance, and this is what produces it.

Being exempt from development approval does not exempt you from a building permit.

Victoria Park council approval: what LPP 32 exempts

Local Planning Policy 32 brings together, in one document, every development type exempt from development approval in the Town, both under the Regulations and Scheme and as additional local exemptions. Where this policy conflicts with another local planning policy, LPP 32 prevails.

For residential work the exempt structures include:

An outbuilding
An external fixture
A boundary wall or fence
A patio
A pergola
A verandah
A deck
A garage
A carport

Each is exempt where it meets the deemed-to-comply criteria of R-Codes Volume 1, or any local planning policy that amends or replaces those criteria.

The Victoria Park visible from the street trigger

This is the condition that catches people, and it is unusual enough to be worth stating plainly.

An outbuilding, external fixture, front fence, patio, verandah, garage or carport on the same lot as a single house or grouped dwelling may require development approval where it is visible from the street, even where the structure would otherwise be exempt.

In a Town with narrow inner-city lots, short setbacks and plenty of corner blocks, visibility from the street is not a rare condition. A carport beside the house, a patio on a corner lot, a front fence, an air conditioning unit on a visible roof plane, all of these can be pulled into an application by visibility alone.

The practical consequence is that in Victoria Park the question is not only “does it comply”, it is “can it be seen”. Both need answering before you assume no application is needed, and that is exactly the kind of question the $73 exemption check resolves.

Local Planning Policy 25 Streetscape

LPP 25 varies some of the deemed-to-comply requirements of the R-Codes. That is significant, because LPP 32 exempts development that meets the deemed-to-comply criteria or any local planning policy that amends or replaces them.

So in Victoria Park, “deemed to comply” does not always mean the standard R-Codes number. Where LPP 25 has varied a provision, the varied provision is the one your design has to meet. Checking the R-Codes alone is not sufficient here.

The Victoria Park deemed-to-comply check, and why it is worth using

The Town’s exemption check assesses whether plans for a single house, or an extension or renovation to a single house, are exempt from development approval.

Item	Detail
Fee	$73
Applies to	A single house, or an extension or renovation to a single house
How to lodge	Email the Application for exemption advice form to admin@vicpark.wa.gov.au with the property address and application type in the subject line
Payment	The Town issues an invoice after you email the application
Purpose	To give applicants confidence the proposal can proceed straight to a building permit

Set that against the alternative. A development application on a $200,000 renovation costs $640 under the state fee scale and can take 60 days, or 90 where consultation is required. The $73 check either confirms you do not need that, or tells you early that you do, while there is still time to amend the design rather than wear the delay.

For comparison across the inner suburbs, the Town of Cambridge charges $295 for a new single house and $100 for additions, with a 14 day response. The City of Vincent does not offer a formal pre-lodgement assessment at all. Victoria Park is the cheapest of the three, and worth using on almost any single house job here.

Patios and fire separation in Victoria Park

A patio is exempt under LPP 32 where it meets the applicable deemed-to-comply criteria, subject to the visible from the street condition. Fire separation is a separate question decided at building permit stage.

Western Australia adopted NCC 2025 on 1 May 2026, introducing WA Part 9.6 for roofed outdoor areas. It gives two routes to the boundary: 900mm measured to the outermost structural projection and excluding the eave overhang, or 500mm measured to the outermost projection and including the eave overhang.

The 500mm route carries conditions including two or more sides open with at least one third of the perimeter open, a non-combustible supporting structure, a polycarbonate or non-combustible roof covering, a non-combustible floor, no direct vertical support to the house, and a solid non-combustible screen at least 1500mm high along every side facing a boundary. Where that does not suit the build, use the 900mm route.

On the tight lots typical of Victoria Park, boundary proximity is normal rather than exceptional, so the fire separation route is usually a live design decision rather than an afterthought.

Victoria Park plans we prepare

Project type	What we prepare
Additions and extensions	Existing and proposed plans, demolition plan
Second storey additions	Full working drawings, elevations, sections
New single houses on infill lots	Concept design through to submission documentation
Exemption check submissions	Plan set prepared to survive the Town’s deemed-to-comply assessment
Patios, decks and pergolas	Plans with the visibility question and fire separation route both addressed
Sheds and outbuildings	Plans tested against the R-Codes as varied by local policy
Carports and garages	Setback, frontage and street visibility assessment
Ancillary dwellings	Plans and area calculations to the 70m2 limit

Victoria Park projects and what they teach you

Work across the Town of Victoria Park is a regular part of what we do, on the established lots through Victoria Park, East Victoria Park and Carlisle where site coverage, setbacks and street visibility do most of the work.

The lesson here is that compliance has two halves. The numbers have to work, and they have to work against the R-Codes as varied by the Town’s own policies, not the R-Codes in isolation. Then the structure has to survive the visibility test. A design that clears the first and fails the second still ends up in an application.

The second lesson is that the $73 check should be a default step, not an optional extra. On a job where the alternative is a $640 application and a 60 to 90 day wait, spending $73 to close the question is straightforwardly good value.

What Town of Victoria Park approval costs

The deemed-to-comply exemption check is a Town fee of $73. Development application fees are set by state regulation and are the same at every WA council, calculated on the estimated cost of development:

Estimated cost of development	Application fee
Not more than $50,000	$147
$50,001 to $500,000	0.32% of the estimated cost
$500,001 to $2.5 million	$1,700 plus 0.257% of the amount above $500,000
Written planning advice	$73
Amending or cancelling an approval	$295

If the work has already been built, the fee is that figure plus a penalty of twice the fee, so three times the normal amount.

Building permit fees are separate and calculated on construction value.

Our drafting fee is quoted per project rather than by a rate card, because a character cottage in Victoria Park and a rear addition in Bentley are not the same job. As a rough guide only, a patio or shed submission sits at the lower end, a renovation or addition in the middle, and a new house or second storey at the upper end. You get a fixed figure before we start.

How long the drawings take

We are one of the quicker drafting practices in Perth, and we would rather tell you that plainly than quote a number we cannot stand behind.

Turnaround depends on what is being drawn. A patio or a shed is not a second storey addition, and a straightforward flat block is not a sloping site with an existing dwelling to survey and match into. Anyone quoting you a fixed timeframe before seeing the scope is guessing.

What we do is give you a realistic date once we have seen the project, and then keep to it. If we cannot hit something you need, we say so before you commit rather than after.

It is also worth knowing that on most jobs the drafting is not the long pole. The parts that usually set the overall timeline are:

The council clock, which is set by regulation rather than by us
Third party reports, such as a Bushfire Attack Level assessment, an arborist report or engineering certification, each of which has its own lead time
Decisions, meaning how quickly changes come back once you have the first draft in front of you

Those are the things worth planning around, and we will tell you which of them apply to your project at the start.

Draftsman services by Victoria Park suburb

The Town of Victoria Park sits just south east of the Perth CBD, between the Swan River and the Albany Highway corridor.

Suburb	What tends to drive the design
Victoria Park draftsman	Character housing and mixed density near the Albany Highway strip, street visibility is a live issue
East Victoria Park draftsman	Established family lots, additions and second storeys dominate
Carlisle draftsman	Older smaller lots, site coverage and boundary walls are the constraints
Lathlain draftsman	Character stock, rear additions and outbuildings common work
Burswood draftsman	Higher density in parts, Part C provisions may apply rather than Part B
St James draftsman	Shared with a neighbouring council, confirm which local government your lot falls in
Bentley draftsman	Shared with a neighbouring council, mixed density, R-code confirmation matters
Welshpool draftsman	Predominantly industrial, zoning confirmation is the first step

Victoria Park draftsman questions

How much is a deemed-to-comply check in Victoria Park?

$73. The Town assesses whether plans for a single house, or an extension or renovation to a single house, are exempt from development approval. You email the application form to admin@vicpark.wa.gov.au with the property address and application type in the subject line, and the Town invoices you for the fee. The intent is to give you confidence the proposal can proceed straight to a building permit.

Do I need development approval for a patio in Victoria Park?

Not where it meets the deemed-to-comply criteria of the R-Codes, or of any local planning policy that amends those criteria. But there is a second condition. A patio, carport, garage, outbuilding, front fence or external fixture may require development approval where it is visible from the street, even if the numbers comply. On inner-city lots that is a real risk, and the $73 check is the cheap way to resolve it.

What is LPP 25 Streetscape and why does it matter?

It is a Town of Victoria Park policy that varies some of the R-Codes deemed-to-comply requirements. It matters because the exemption in LPP 32 applies to development meeting the R-Codes deemed-to-comply criteria or any local planning policy that amends or replaces them. So in Victoria Park, checking the standard R-Codes number alone is not enough. Where LPP 25 has varied a provision, that varied provision governs.

What does Victoria Park exempt from development approval?

LPP 32 lists outbuildings, external fixtures, boundary walls and fences, patios, pergolas, verandahs, decks, garages and carports, each where it meets the applicable deemed-to-comply criteria. The policy is intended as a single comprehensive list, and where it conflicts with another local planning policy, LPP 32 prevails. The visible from the street condition sits over the top of it.

Is the $73 check worth it?

On most single house jobs, yes. A development application on a $200,000 renovation costs $640 and can take 60 days, or 90 with consultation. The check either closes the question for $73, or flags the problem early enough to amend the design instead of absorbing the delay. It is the cheapest certainty available in the process.