City of Yarra Heritage Review

Why is it important?

The City of Yarra includes some of Melbourne’s earliest suburbs and in the nineteenth century had a strong industrial component and modest dwellings.  The narrow heritage dominated streetscapes retain the dense and original inner urban character of the area.  A substantial portion of the municipality is covered by existing heritage overlays.

Why is it at risk?

A heritage amendment was completed in 2008, and since then has been waiting for approval by the Minister for Planning.  In May 2010 the Trust became aware that it had finally been returned by the Minister’s planning department to the City of Yarra, with extensive suggested alterations, including demolition controls on ‘contributory’ buildings relaxed to such an extent that their demolition would be considered if the replacement building displayed ‘architectural excellence’.  This would mean that 90% of places would not effectively be protected at all, completely undermining the point of heritage controls. 

What needs to be done?

The Trust wrote to Councillors recommending that they accept their planner’s recommendation not to accept that wording.  Yarra Council met on 18 May to discuss the proposed changes.  At the meeting it resolved to write back to the Minister’s department expressing concern over the time for the Amendment to be considered by the Minister and to express concerns over proposed changes of wording to local policy, in particular demolition of contributory elements, sightlines for extensions, gardens, and the priority given to “language over substance’.  Council established a working group to further examine the proposals, and following Trust input the group has recommended a series of further changes to the wording.  It remains to be seen how the department responds.