Background

In 2021, the Council decided to undertake a Cultural Heritage Study aimed at identifying significant heritage places and considering options for heritage conservation under the Tasmanian Planning Scheme.  That work was undertaken by specialist consultants, Extent Heritage, during 2022 and presented to potentially impacted property owners and the broader community.

The Study identifies a number of individual properties and precincts that have heritage value, and recommends that the Council afford these sites a level of protection by incorporating the Local Historic Heritage Code into our Local Provisions Schedule (i.e. the local ‘planning scheme’) and “listing” the properties and precincts.

Even though local heritage listing is much less prescriptive than State heritage listing, this is not a decision that the Council would make lightly.

Next steps / where to from here?

As well as highlighting concerns about the potential impact that any heritage listing may have on property owners, our community engagement sessions identified a number of significant errors in the property datasheets developed by the consultants.  Extent Heritage have appointed a new team to review the work and correct the errors at their own cost.  This work will be undertaken in the second half of 2023.

When the review is completed, the Council will decide whether or not to implement some, none or all of the recommendations.  Impacted property owners will be kept up to date as this work progresses.  If the Council were to decide to proceed with any form of heritage listing, the process would be subject to public notification and a formal consultation process overseen by the Tasmanian Planning Commission.

For further information, please contact the Council’s Planning team on 6429 8900.