There are four local governments in the Gascoyne, covering an area of 135,277 square kilometres – Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The region has a population of about 10,000 people and is sparsely populated with the majority of residents living in Carnarvon and Exmouth. The main industries include tourism, mining (salt production), agriculture (horticulture and pastoralism) and fisheries.
The geographic extent of the region is shown on this map:
Gascoyne region map (PDF 479 kb)
Local planning
Local governments are involved in planning for local communities by administering local planning strategies and schemes to ensure appropriate planning controls exist for land use and development.
Local planning strategies establish the planning framework for each local government, and provide the strategic basis for local planning schemes. Local planning schemes contain planning controls such as the designation of appropriate land uses, residential densities and development standards.
Where they exist, local planning strategies and local planning schemes for the Gascoyne local government areas are accessible on the Local Planning Strategies, Schemes and Structure Plans page.
Aboriginal settlements
Layout plans are a type of plan prepared by the Department of Planning specifically for Aboriginal settlements in WA. A layout plan has been prepared for Burringurrah (Mt Augustus), the only Aboriginal settlement in the Gascoyne.
Regional planning and infrastructure frameworks
Regional north land capacity analysis
The regional north land capacity analysis provides a broad overview of the land capacity of settlements in the Gascoyne, Indian Ocean Territories, Kimberley and Pilbara regions with respect to forecast population growth.
