One of the major roads used to access the Perth airport and the city's east is due to be significantly widened, triggering concerns from residents and local businesses that have been told their properties will have to be partially demolished.

The WA Planning Commission (WAPC) wants to widen a five-kilometre stretch of Guildford Road in the eastern suburbs, from East Parade to Tonkin Highway.

Local man Graeme Reany stands to lose 6.3 metres of his front yard when land is resumed for the project.

Local man Graeme Reany stands to lose 6.3 metres of his front yard for the project. ( ABC News:Courtney Bembridge )

He said the plan affected 300 homes and 59 businesses along Guildford Road, including the popular Amore Mio restaurant and Rifo's Cafe in Maylands.

Mr Reany said people were distraught when he spoke to them about the letter from the WAPC.

"I had people cry," he said.

"I had people who were visibly distressed that they had received this without any other communication whatsoever from the WAPC or from Main Roads."

The road will remain four lanes but a median strip will be installed along its length and an on-road cycling lane will run part of the way.

Bus "queue-jump" facilities - a lane for buses to pull into at intersections so they can overtake traffic - are also included in the plan.

Angry residents gathered on Thursday to discuss action against the widening of the road. ( ABC News: Tom Wildie )

"The design concept aims to establish an efficient, safe and more comfortable balance between pedestrian, cyclists, vehicle-based and public transport modes," the report said.

But Mr Reany said there was no need to build a bike lane along Guildford Road because there were two existing cycleways in the area, and questioned why more consultation did not take place.

Maylands veterinarian Steve Baker said he employed five people at his clinic, but the planned development would force him to shut the business down.

"It would write off the entire building. We'd lose half the land property that's there and it would just leave the carpark, which won't meet council requirements for a veterinary clinic," he said.

"So it'll be goodbye Maylands, no more veterinary clinic."

We are consulting, planning chiefs say

The amendment is being advertised for public submissions for a period of three months, from December 13 until March 17.

The Department of Planning's director-general, Gail McGowan, said the widening of the road was necessary to make it safer.

"It will continue to get busier as the population of Perth increases, [it] currently has very narrow verges and a number of intersections are fairly difficult intersections to navigate," she said.

Critics say the planned expansion will affect 300 homes and 59 businesses along Guildford Road. ( Supplied: WAPC )

Ms McGowan said it was unlikely any actual work on the road would occur this year.

She said they were in the first part of a "long consultation process", with public submissions generally followed by a hearings committee and a recommendation to the minister.

"There are a number of points at which anyone who has concerns can actually indicate what's important to them and make sure that their concerns or considerations are taken into account," she said.

Labor candidate for Mount Lawley Simon Millman said the consultation period should not have run over Christmas, and residents had already lost time to provide feedback.

He wants the State Government to put a hold on the plans until after the state election, when a new government may have a different vision for the area.

"If you have a moratorium on this right now and you wait until the outcome of the state election, we're going to have a different perspective on the way in which planning and infrastructure operates in this state," he said.