We've been working to protect Wyndham's important heritage

Heritage provides us with important evidence of how our community has evolved and developed over time.

As a region with high growth, heritage is particularly important to Wyndham as a touchstone to the past and a key contributor to a strong sense of place in our communities. There are pressures on our special heritage places due to development and competing strategic objectives such as infrastructure provision and housing growth.

Council must manage these pressures on our heritage to protect the places that make Wyndham special, and ensure that development is sensitive to identified heritage values.

The Wyndham Heritage Review is an important opportunity to protect places of local heritage significance in the face of unprecedented growth, to strengthen the City’s unique character, and to celebrate the history of Wyndham with our community.

Stage 2 Study - Residential Places and Precincts

Of the residential places and precincts identified in the Stage 1 Gap Study (adopted by Council June 2021), the Stage 2 Heritage Study of Residential Places and Precincts has recommended the protection of 17 individual places and 2 precincts of local heritage significance. The Stage 2 Study has also looked at heritage in Werribee South and included a review of the Thematic Environmental History for Wyndham.

We're now asking for community feedback on the Stage 2 Study findings.

Traditional Owner Engagement

We are undertaking consultation with Wyndham’s Registered Aboriginal Parties, including the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation to provide an opportunity to contribute cultural knowledge and truth-telling to the project.

Volume 1 – Methodology Report (Appendix A, B and C) provides an overview of Traditional Owner engagement undertaken to date, as well as a Cultural Values Statement prepared by the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation.

How do I get involved?

We want feedback from landowners and the community on the draft Stage 2 recommendations. Council will then consider the final recommendations as well as community submissions and decide on the adoption of the Stage 2 Study.

What's happened so far?

Wyndham Heritage Review – Stage 1 (Gap Study)

Council has completed a Stage 1 Heritage Review (Gap Study) which reviewed the existing Heritage Overlay, existing heritage resources, including unprotected heritage places across Wyndham and identified a number of gaps in the protection of post contact heritage places in Wyndham.

The Stage 1 Heritage Review (Gap Study) recommended further investigation and detailed assessment of 173 Individual Sites, including residential, commercial, industrial, community, archaeological places, military and infrastructure related sites, landscapes and trees, complex places, comprised of multiple land parcels and new precincts.

The Stage 1 Gap Study also recommended corrections to existing heritage citations, and the preparation of detailed Thematic Environmental History for Wyndham.

Stage 2 Heritage Study - Residential Places and Precincts

At the Ordinary Council Meeting 29th June 2021, Council resolved to adopt the Stage 1 Study and commence the first of the Stage 2 heritage studies - Work Item 1 (Residential places and precincts).

This includes individual residential places (including some groups) and precincts (generally residential, but also including the Campbells Cove/Baileys Beach boatshed precinct). You can read more about the Council process here.

Stage 2 Study – Phase 1 – Residential Places and Precincts Information Gathering

In August 2022, at the beginning of the Stage 2 Study, Council reached out to the community through letters to landowners, print and social media and The Loop, and invited residents to contribute information on places identified in the Stage 1 Study.

This information has been considered by the consultant and included where relevant.

What happens next?

Stage 3 - Protect residential places and precincts of historical significance

Following Phase 2 Engagement, Lovell Chen and Council officers will consider all community feedback and make changes to the citations where there are factual corrections, or where new information on the heritage place or precinct is found which changes the conclusion of the assessment or adds to the history of the place.

Places recommended for inclusion in the Stage 2 Study will not be removed prior to seeking Council adoption unless there is justification on heritage grounds. Property owners can also make submissions during the exhibition of a future Planning Scheme Amendment, and unresolved submissions will be considered by an independent Planning Panel.

The outcomes of Phase 2 Engagement, including a response to submissions, will be reported to Council in mid 2024. At this time, Council Officers will seek the adoption of the Stage 2 Study and commencement of a Planning Scheme Amendment to protect places and precincts recommended for protection.