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title: Heritage Overlay Schedule and Heritage Precinct Constraints council: golden-plains state: vic category: constraint classification: MINOR status: adopted last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:

  • Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf
  • Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf

Heritage Overlay Schedule and Heritage Precinct Constraints

Golden Plains’ heritage constraint system is not only a list of protected buildings; it is a permit-control mechanism that changes what information must accompany demolition, development, tree works and precinct development applications where the Heritage Overlay applies (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.314). The schedule operates at two scales: individual heritage places, including state-listed places and local places, and township-scale heritage precincts supported by incorporated statements of significance (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.319-320; Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, pp.21-23).

Background

The Planning Scheme Review identifies the Heritage Overlay as the planning scheme tool applied to buildings, places and precincts of identified heritage value listed in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.376). The same review records that Council’s broader strategic work program includes keeping heritage citations up to date, which means heritage protection is treated as an ongoing maintenance task rather than a closed inventory (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.27).

The immediate statutory update in the source set is Amendment C101gpla, which applies the Heritage Overlay permanently to Clontarf Homestead at 4 Wallace Street, Meredith as HO174 (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.1). C101gpla followed a demolition consent pathway: Council received a request to demolish the house on 28 March 2022, wrote to the Minister for Planning on 13 April 2022 seeking an interim Heritage Overlay, and the demolition request was later modified to remove the dwelling, buggy shed and stables from the demolition proposal (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.1).

Analysis

How the Constraint Works

The Heritage Overlay schedule requires demolition applications for locally significant or contributory heritage places within a precinct to be supported by a structural engineering report, a statement showing demolition will not adversely affect significance, and an application for replacement development (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.314). This makes demolition assessment sequential rather than isolated: the responsible authority is not only asked whether a structure can be removed, but also what the replacement outcome does to the heritage place or precinct (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.314).

The schedule also requires an arboricultural assessment and heritage impact assessment where a heritage place has tree controls, and it requires a heritage impact assessment for proposed development that may affect a significant heritage place (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.314). The practical mechanism is therefore information-based: the overlay does not automatically prevent change, but it raises the evidentiary burden before demolition, tree removal, buildings or works can be assessed (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.314).

Precinct Controls

The schedule identifies township heritage precincts at Bannockburn, Corindhap, Inverleigh, Lethbridge, Linton, Meredith, Rokewood, Scarsdale-Newtown, Shelford and Smythesdale as HO95 to HO104 (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.319-320). These precincts are supported by incorporated Statements of Significance listed in Clause 72.04, which gives the precinct statements a formal role in interpreting what is significant within each mapped area (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.373-374).

The precinct schedule rows show different control settings across precincts: Corindhap, Inverleigh and Shelford have tree controls, while Bannockburn, Lethbridge, Linton, Meredith, Rokewood, Scarsdale-Newtown and Smythesdale do not show tree controls in the schedule extract (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.319-320). This distinction matters because a mapped precinct is not a uniform constraint: two properties in different precincts may both need heritage assessment for buildings and works, but only some precincts trigger tree-control information requirements (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.314, 319-320).

Steiglitz is a separate heritage precinct listed as HO34, and the Planning Scheme Review identifies a mapping error where the Victorian Heritage Register place HO14/H1487, the Former Steiglitz Court House, is mapped both as HO14 and as part of precinct HO34 (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.14, 380). The stated consequence is administrative as well as spatial: the correction is needed to clarify that Heritage Victoria is responsible for heritage permits for that Victorian Heritage Register place under the Heritage Overlay (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.14, 380).

Individual Heritage Places and C101gpla

Amendment C101gpla adds HO174 for Clontarf Homestead at 4 Wallace Street, Meredith, amends Map 18HO, amends the Heritage Overlay schedule, and incorporates the Clontarf Homestead Statement of Significance into Clause 72.04 (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, pp.1, 21-23). The schedule row for HO174 identifies no external paint controls, no internal alteration controls, no tree controls, no solar energy system controls, no outbuilding or fence control beyond the default setting shown in the row, no Victorian Heritage Register inclusion, no prohibited uses permission, and no Aboriginal heritage place identification (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.21).

The C101gpla assessment narrows the protected fabric to the house, stables and buggy shed, while stating that large established trees were assessed but did not meet the threshold for the Heritage Overlay (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.1). That boundary choice is important because it separates heritage significance from general landscape character: the site may contain mature vegetation, but the statutory heritage control is directed to the built elements identified as significant (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, pp.1, 23).

The incorporated statement says Clontarf Homestead is locally significant for historical and aesthetic values, comprising the Victorian Regency styled house, the Federation Georgian house attached behind it, and the stable and buggy shed (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.23). The statement also says other outbuildings are not significant, so future assessment should distinguish between significant fabric and non-significant fabric rather than treating the whole property as equally constrained (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.23).

The Clontarf statement records that the interior is not recommended for heritage controls because the interior has been substantially altered, parts of timber floors have been removed, and asbestos or masonite lining is likely present (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.26). The statement recommends measured drawings and detailed annotated photographs for the former stables and buggy shed before a demolition permit is issued because that structure is in very poor to ruinous condition (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.26). This creates a specific documentation-before-loss mechanism for one component of the heritage place rather than a blanket conservation requirement for every structure on the land (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.26).

Relationship to Growth and Township Planning

The Planning Scheme Review records that Golden Plains has experienced high population growth in regional Victorian terms and that single dwellings and subdivision are significant parts of planning permit activity (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.14). Heritage constraints therefore sit inside active settlement-management work rather than a static rural context, because the same review identifies township growth boundaries, structure plans, precinct structure plans and development plan overlays as live strategic work (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.27, 376).

The further strategic work schedule includes precinct structure plans for the south east and south west precincts identified in the Bannockburn Growth Plan, a north west development plan area in Bannockburn, and structure plans for Smythesdale and Haddon (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.376). These growth-planning tasks do not replace heritage controls; they must operate alongside the Heritage Overlay where mapped heritage places or precincts intersect with future rezoning, subdivision, design or development-plan work (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.314, 376).

For Bannockburn Growth Plan implementation, the heritage issue is most visible where the Bannockburn Heritage Precinct HO95 sits within the same township system as town-centre and growth-area planning controls (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.319, 376). For Meredith, the issue is layered: Meredith has a heritage precinct HO100 and now also contains the individual Clontarf Homestead listing HO174 at 4 Wallace Street (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.320; Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, pp.1, 21).

Current Status

The Planning Scheme Review was finalised on 14 October 2022 and identifies heritage citation currency and the Steiglitz mapping correction as continuing planning scheme maintenance issues (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.1, 27, 380). Amendment C101gpla is presented as an adoption document that permanently applies HO174 to 4 Wallace Street, Meredith and adds the Clontarf Homestead Statement of Significance to the incorporated documents schedule (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, pp.1, 21-23).

Dependencies

  • Blocks: Demolition or development that may affect significant heritage fabric cannot be assessed on a minimal application package where the Heritage Overlay schedule requires structural engineering evidence, heritage impact assessment, arboricultural assessment, replacement development details or other supporting material (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.314).
  • Blocked by: Precise constraint analysis is limited where incorporated Statements of Significance are referenced but not available in the source set, because those statements define what is significant within each heritage precinct (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.373-374).
  • Informed by: The heritage overlay framework is informed by the Golden Plains Heritage Study Stage 1, Golden Plains Heritage Study Stage 2, precinct Statements of Significance, and individual statements such as Clontarf Homestead (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.373-374; Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, pp.21-23).
  • Implements: The C101gpla amendment states that the Heritage Overlay implements the Victorian planning objective to conserve and enhance buildings, areas and places of scientific, aesthetic, architectural, historical or cultural value, and implements Clause 15.03-1S heritage conservation by identifying, assessing and documenting places for inclusion in the planning scheme (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, pp.1-2).
  • Conflicts with: The source documents do not identify a direct policy conflict, but C101gpla shows a procedural tension between demolition consent and heritage assessment because the amendment was triggered after a demolition request for 4 Wallace Street, Meredith (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.1).

Victorian Heritage Register places create a state-local responsibility boundary because the Planning Scheme Review states that the Steiglitz Court House mapping correction is needed to clarify Heritage Victoria’s responsibility for heritage permits for HO14/H1487 (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.14, 380). No adjacent-council heritage dependency is identified in the two source documents (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf; Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf).

Gaps in This Analysis

The source set includes the Heritage Overlay schedule and the C101gpla Clontarf statement, but it does not include the full incorporated Statements of Significance for Bannockburn, Corindhap, Inverleigh, Lethbridge, Linton, Meredith, Rokewood, Scarsdale-Newtown, Shelford, Smythesdale or Steiglitz (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.373-374). This prevents parcel-level or street-by-street analysis of contributory fabric, non-contributory fabric, significant views, precinct boundaries and detailed design sensitivities for those precincts (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, pp.319-320, 373-374).

The source set also does not include the full Golden Plains Heritage Study Stage 1 or Stage 2 reports, even though those studies are listed as background documents in the planning scheme review material (Source: Att 7.6.1 - Golden-Plains-Planning-Scheme-Review-2022_FINAL combined_3.pdf, p.374). This means the analysis can identify the statutory control architecture, but it cannot test whether older citations remain adequate, whether any unlisted places were deferred because of budget constraints, or whether additional places should be reviewed after the C101gpla process exposed a previously incomplete assessment pathway (Source: Att 7.5 C101gpla Planning Scheme Amendment Documents Adoption.pdf, p.1).

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