Parliamentary committee reports its consideration of the future heritage reform

LG Leader June 2019

On 30 April 2019 the Environment Resources and Development Committee released its final report on the heritage inquiry it conducted during the majority of 2018. The inquiry focussed on rural, regional and metropolitan built heritage only.

The inquiry was particularly pertinent as it coincides with the State-wide planning reform including the implementation of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016, State Planning Policies and the Planning and Design Code (which continues designations of local heritage value but not contributory items).

Following the inquiry, the report made the following interesting comments and recommendations:

• a stable, long term funding base for management of heritage that results in a ‘carrots’ rather than ‘sticks’ approach to compliance is needed.
• a review or audit needs to be undertaken, using a state-wide, collaborative approach to:
  • provide information on the heritage values of currently listed places to be captured into a publicly-searchable database;
  • assess places listed prior to 1993 that may require re-attributing from state to local significance (providing this does not reduce their heritage protection);
  • review protected local items and zones or areas transferred to the Planning and Design Code against new local heritage criteria; review, against new local heritage criteria, places that were recommended for inclusion as local heritage places in development plans, but weren’t; and
  • secure appropriate funding by state government;
• a state-wide, strategic approach to identifying heritage of local and state significance, involving the community and interested stakeholders, which is appropriately funded by state government (which may practically take the form of a Ministerial Code amendment under the new legislation);
• repeal of section 67(4) and (5) of the PDI Act 2016 which requires that an area cannot be designated under an amendment to the Planning and Design Code as constituting a heritage character or preservation zone or subzone unless the amendment has been approved by 51% of relevant owners of allotments within a relevant area. This recommendation seeks to ensure that planning policy is determined by proper planning principles through broad community consultation, rather than through a selective vote of property owners.