Thursday, 2 May 2019

Southern Metropolitan Region

In reply to Mr HAYES (Southern Metropolitan) (5 March 2019)

Mr WYNNE (Richmond—Minister for Housing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Planning):

The protection of Victoria’s heritage is important to me and I have taken steps to prioritise this.

In November 2017, I agreed to support local councils apply interim Heritage Overlays as part of their planning scheme if the council has completed the necessary research and there is evidence of development pressure.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) has approved, under delegation, a number of amendments to introduce blanket interim Heritage Overlays in the City of Boroondara to support the council’s heritage gap studies on a suburb-by-suburb basis.

An interim Heritage Overlay provides immediate protection to properties while an amendment to introduce the controls on a permanent basis proceeds through the public exhibition process and independent review. This is to balance the need for heritage protection with the requirement to afford natural justice to the land owner.

I am advised that Heritage Victoria declined a request for an Interim Protection Order under the Heritage Act 2017 for Currajong House at 337 Auburn Road, Hawthorn.

DELWP officers are finalising their assessment of Boroondara Planning Scheme Amendment C309 for interim Heritage Overlays in Hawthorn. I expect a decision will be made shortly.

It is important to note that the council consented to the demolition of Currajong House in July last year before submitting its request for an interim Heritage Overlay on 10 January 2019. If Amendment C309 is approved, the owner of Currajong House may still act on their building permit.