Response to heritage inquiry
In February 2022, the bid team took the opportunity to introduce the Central Victorian Goldfields World Heritage bid to the ‘Inquiry into the protections within the Victorian Planning Framework’.
The submission highlighted that while the current state of protections will not have any impact on the success of the World Heritage bid itself, the Inquiry did provide an opportunity to bring protections up to date to align with contemporary concepts of heritage and, importantly, those applied for World Heritage.
The relevance of this for the Inquiry is that in some (but not all) cases, World Heritage sites can have what is known as a ‘buffer zone’ around them. This could include protections within the Victorian Planning Framework, such as those in place for Victoria’s Royal Exhibition and Carlton Gardens World Heritage Environs Area.
Of note:
- Cultural Landscape concepts. For example, heritage is part of an integrated and complex place/landscape and does not exist in isolation to other values, elements, and factors. A challenge for the Victorian Planning Framework is that protections are not fully integrated.
- Sustainable Development concepts. For example, ensuring there is early involvement by local communities, developers, stakeholders, and interest groups can help identify better ways to facilitate change. Currently, protections are triggered quite late and community input even later. Identifying solutions early can help all involved.
- Sustainable Tourism concepts. For example, much can be learned from experiences and solutions being introduced in several World Heritage sites, such as negating the impacts of over-tourism on rental and housing availability.
The bid team’s submission is downloadable from the Inquiry website.
