The policy was initially gazetted on 22 December 1998 as Statement of Planning Policy No8.  Subsequently, a variation to the policy, Statement of Planning Policy No 1 (Variation No 1) State Planning Framework Policy, was gazetted on 30 May 2000.

The Statement of Planning Policy has now been further updated to include additional regional strategies, regional and sub-regional structure plans, strategic policies and operational policies that have been endorsed by the WAPC since May 2000.

This Statement of Planning Policy, which does not introduce new policies but simply brings together existing policies, strategies and plans approved by the WAPC, will continue to assist local governments in preparing schemes and will also clarify the State and regional policies that apply to a particular locality.