Frequently Asked Questions

Read a few FAQs about this project before you provide your feedback.

Heritage is what we inherit, appreciate today, and think is important to protect for the benefit of future generations. Heritage can include buildings, archaeological remains, gardens, streetscapes, and landscapes. Our heritage tells our unique story, reflects our community identity, and connects current and future generations to the past.

Council has a legal obligation to conserve and enhance buildings, areas or other places which are of scientific, aesthetic, architectural or historical interest, or otherwise of special cultural value. We also know that the Wyndham community values our heritage:

We respect, acknowledge, value and celebrate the First Nations People, our heritage, cultural diversity, and multicultural strengths.—Wyndham 2040 Community Vision

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.

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage is protected under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006.

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 acknowledge and protect Aboriginal Places.

The Wyndham Heritage Review is a major initiative in Wyndham City’s Council Plan. The Heritage Review will help Council identify and protect Wyndham’s heritage places and help us better understand our history. The Wyndham Heritage Review project is being undertaken in stages:

The Stage 2 Study on Residential Places and Precincts is the first of several proposed Stage 2 studies looking at different types of heritage across Wyndham.

In July 2022, Council engaged Lovell Chen heritage consultants to carry out the Stage 2 Study of Residential Places and Precincts. This study has looked at the residential places and precincts identified in the Wyndham Heritage Review Stage 1 Gap Study to confirm if they have heritage significance and whether they should be protected by applying planning controls (the Heritage Overlay).

The heritage consultant has carried out historical research and street surveys to confirm the age, intactness and significance of potential heritage places and precincts, and whether the place or precinct should be protected.

Your house has been identified as a place of local heritage significance that should be protected by a Heritage Overlay. We are seeking your feedback on this recommendation through our community consultation period from 15 November to 15 December. Your feedback will be taken into consideration, and the final recommendations will go to Council for adoption in 2024. You will be notified when this occurs.

Places identified in the Stage 2 Study are not currently protected by planning controls such as a Heritage Overlay.

As part of the Stage 2 Study, Lovell Chen heritage consultants undertook a thorough review of the recommendations of the Stage 1 Study, including further research, assessment, and field work.

Lovell Chen also assessed additional properties nominated by the community during consultation. This process has resulted in a number of new properties being identified as having heritage significance.

Some properties identified in Stage 1 have not been included in the Stage 2 Heritage Study because they don’t meet the threshold for local heritage significance.

The Stage 2 Study has not yet been adopted by Council. You are still able to provide input to the Stage 2 study by providing information on your property and making submissions on the draft recommendations. In mid 2024, Council will consider the recommendations of the Stage 2 Study as well as submissions, and make a decision on the adoption of the recommendations. If the Stage 2 Study is adopted, Council will amend the Wyndham Planning Scheme to include any locally significant sites in the Heritage Overlay.

Council will amend the Wyndham Planning Scheme to include places or precincts of local significance in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay.

This is undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and generally involves these steps.

Landowners and stakeholders can make a submission during exhibition of the Planning Scheme Amendment. Any unresolved submissions will be considered by a Planning Panel who will make their own independent recommendations on the submission and Amendment.

If the Amendment is approved by the Minister for Planning, depending on the works, a planning permit may then be required under the Heritage Overlay.

The Heritage Overlay is one of many different planning controls that can be applied to land to regulate development, and is a planning tool used by Council to protect places of local heritage significance. The Heritage Overlay is found at Clause 43.01 of the Wyndham Planning Scheme. It can be applied to precincts or individual buildings, land, gardens, trees or other items which are of heritage significance.

The Heritage Overlay ensures that heritage places are protected, and ensures that new development considers the significance of the heritage place.

The Schedule to the Heritage Overlay is a list of places covered by a Heritage Overlay, including requirements for specific places or items. The overlay maps show the area or sites to which the Heritage Overlay applies. The Heritage Overlay also includes a set of Decision Guidelines that need to be considered in planning permit applications.

If your property is in a Heritage Overlay, you may need to apply to Council for a planning permit to renovate or develop the property. Heritage controls do not mean development, subdivision or demolition is not allowed, but these would require that a planning permit is obtained, so that the impact of the development on the heritage values of the place can be properly considered.

If a place or area is included in a Heritage Overlay, a Statement of Significance detailing what is important will also be included in the Planning Scheme. This provides guidance about what needs to be considered.

A planning permit is required for various types of development including but not limited to:

  • Subdivide land
  • Demolish or remove a building
  • Construct a building or construct or carry out works including: domestic services, a fence, domestic swimming pool or spa, pergola or verandah
  • Construct or display a sign
  • Externally paint an unpainted surface
  • Remove, destroy or lop a tree if tree controls apply to the heritage place
  • Carry out works, repairs and routine maintenance that doesn’t changes the appearance of the heritage place or are of the same details, specifications and materials

A planning permit is not required for:

  • General maintenance and repairs to a heritage place
  • Provision of services such as water tanks, air conditioning units or other dwelling services which are not visible from the street
  • Repainting or repairing a building in the same materials and colours
  • Internal alterations of buildings

A heritage precinct is an area which has been identified as having heritage value. Places which are in Heritage Overlay precincts can be graded either Significant, Contributory or Non-Contributory.

Significant heritage places are individually important places of heritage significance.

Contributory buildings contribute to the significance of the heritage precinct that they are located in. They are not individually significant places, however, when combined with other significant and/or contributory heritage places, they are important in showing the heritage significance of a precinct.

Non-Contributory places in a heritage precinct that don’t have heritage significance. They are included in the Heritage Overlay because any development of that place might impact on the heritage significance of the precinct or neighbouring Significant or Contributory heritage places. Landowners may be able to remove, alter or develop non-contributory elements or places, however a permit is still required under the Heritage Overlay to allow Council to consider impacts on the heritage values of the precinct.

Design guidelines have been prepared to assist landowners with development within the proposed precinct.

The Stage 2 Study included a review of the Thematic Environmental History which explores the major themes which have contributed to or influenced the various phases of development in the municipality, and how its communities have lived and worked in Wyndham.

The document, drafted as part of the Stage 1 Gap Study, has been updated to incorporate further historical research on housing and residential heritage themes to inform the Stage 2 Study.

The Wyndham Boatshed Management Policy (2016) and Victorian Government Guidelines for the management of existing bathing boxes and boatsheds on marine and coastal Crown land state the requirements for any changes or works to the boatsheds. Any changes or development should be sensitive to the heritage significance of the Boatshed Precinct.

Design guidelines have also been prepared to assist landowners with development within the Boatshed Precinct.

In August 2022, Council reached out to the community through letters to landowners, print and social media and The Loop, and invited residents to provide feedback on places identified in the Stage 1 Study.

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

We are now asking for feedback from landowners and the community on the draft Stage 2 recommendations. This is an opportunity to provide additional information to ensure the accuracy of recommendations for the protection of places and precincts. Submissions will be considered by a qualified heritage expert and incorporated into the final recommendations where relevant.

Council will then consider the final recommendations as well as community submissions and decide on the adoption of the Stage 2 Study.

It is important to note that the main consideration for whether the Heritage Overlay should be applied to a place or precinct is whether it meets the threshold for local significance. Independent Planning Panels have consistently held that issues such as individual economic impacts and impacts on development potential should be considered at the planning permit stage.

What can be considered?

What can’t be considered?
  • New information on the heritage place or precinct which adds to the history of the place.
  • Factual corrections.
  • New information which changes the conclusion of the assessment.
  • Perceived impacts on property values.
  • Perceived impacts on future development.
  • New nominations.
  • The re-consideration of sites previously not recommended for inclusion.


Werribee South is a unique part of Wyndham—it is a state significant agricultural precinct and has a wide range of heritage values across a broad and complex landscape. The 1997 City of Wyndham Heritage Study recommended the further investigation and documentation of the area as a cultural landscape.

In response to this unique context, and feedback from the community during Phase 1 Engagement, Council engaged Lovell Chen to undertake research and engage with representatives of the Werribee South community to investigate community values and identify innovative approaches to the recognition and celebration of heritage values in the Werribee South intensive agriculture precinct.

Council is seeking feedback and any additional information you may have on the Residential Places and Precincts being studied, please get in touch with us: