Geelong council has put forward 20 places for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay within the Greater Geelong Planning Scheme.
Council adopted the Outer Areas Heritage Assessment Study on Tuesday night, which looked at 34 places of heritage significance within the region.
Of those, City officers recommended 20 for Heritage Overlay, a planning mechanism protecting buildings, sites and landscapes from unauthorised demolition, works or redevelopment.
From St Brigid’s Catholic Church in Anakie, to Calder Park homestead in Mount Duneed and Taits Dairy in Connewarre, the sites represent Geelong’s development over the past two centuries.
Councillor Andrew Katos said the 20 places reflected “19th century development, 20th century migration to Geelong, and also building Geelong’s community life”.
Cr Rowan Story noted the breakdown of ownership of the properties was “interesting”, with four publicly owned, two owned by the City, one owned by trust, one by the state government, 10 belonging to religious organisations and three privately owned.
The City will forward a request to Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny to authorise the preparation and exhibition of a planning scheme amendment to add the 20 places to the municipal planning scheme.
Cr Katos encouraged community members to share their feedback once the amendment was exhibited.
“All of the owners were consulted; some were happy with it, others wanted more time, some did not want their properties to be listed,” he said.
“So I’m happy to support the preparation of the exhibition of the amendment and then people can certainly have their say.”
