FAQs

The Talbot Heritage Review (Stage One):

• is early implementation of the forthcoming Talbot Structure Plan
• focuses on the areas within the existing heritage control (HO208)
• comprises research to confirm the ‘historic core’ of Talbot and assist to identify areas where new development should be supported, minimised, or avoided.
• will provide recommendations for appropriate ways to manage impacts where development can be supported.
• involves desktop research, fieldwork, and a community information session (held on Monday 19 February 2024).

The study area comprises the land affected by the current Hertiage Overlay Control (HO208) in the Central Goldfields Planning Scheme. (see map)

All Tabot properties within the existing ‘blanket’ Heritage Overlay (HO208). These may contain churches, houses, old shops, civic buildings, gardens, landscapes, or other structures/features.

You can find out more information about heritage planning and conservation in Central Goldfields Shire on our Heritage Planning webpage.

It is being done by specialist heritage consultants Extent Pty Ltd (Extent). They recently did the Maryborough Heritage Review (Stages One and Two).

The current, ‘blanket’ control (HO208) in the Central Goldfields Planning Scheme is based on a detailed ‘citation’ that is contained in the Talbot and Clunes Conservation Study (Richard Aitken, 1988).

You can find out more information about heritage planning and conservation in Central Goldfields Shire on our Heritage Planning webpage here.

This project is the first in a three-step process to protect Talbot’s heritage with up-to-date planning controls.

Step 1 - Identify - research to confirm the 'historic core' of Talbot, and to identify areas where new development should be supported, minimised or avoided.

Step 2 - Investigate and Assess - preparation of detailed citations for places that are confirmed as being of heritage significance.

Step 3 - Protect - The preparation of an Amendment to the Central Goldfields Planning Scheme to protect places that are of heritage significance using the Heritage Overlay.

• The Talbot Futures program anticipates growth and change in Talbot over the next 25 years. You can learn see more about this in the draft Talbot Futures Structure Plan
• Local Heritage places are protected through the Heritage Overlay control in the Central Goldfields Planning Scheme.
• To make sure that Talbot’s heritage is protected during likely change, the local heritage control for Talbot (Heritage Overlay called HO208) needs to be reviewed so that it is clearer, stronger and more targeted.
• At the moment, local planning scheme controls for Talbot’s core mainly consist of a single, ‘blanket’ listing (Heritage Overlay called HO208), that is based on a study done in 1988. Heritage protection requirements have evolved since then.

This project will result in a Report containing findings and recommendations to better protect heritage places within Talbot’s historic core.

The project is running from January 2024 to May 2024. It is expected that in June 2024 the Report containing findings and recommendations will be provided to Council and released to the community.

Yes. A second project, the Talbot Heritage Review (Stage 2), is needed prior to any Planning Scheme changes.

The Talbot Heritage Review Stage 2 is expected take place in the second half of 2024 (subject to external funding). Here, you will have a further opportunity to directly engage with and participate in further heritage work.

You will also get the chance to participate in any future formal (statutory) planning scheme amendment process.

Not immediately. It will provide foundation research that will lead to revisions to the existing Heritage Overlay in Talbot. It is the first of two stages of heritage research and assessment that is needed before the Planning Scheme can be changed.

No. This study is contained to those properties already in the Heritage Overlay (HO208). We will not be adding to the number of properties affected. If anything, we will see a more tailored heritage control in the future, so some properties that currently have the generic Heritage Overlay, but have no heritage value, will be removed.

No.

There is no evidence that the Heritage Overlay causes a property to lose value. Many people look for a building with historic character for their home or business. A lack of maintenance is more likely to decrease a property’s value than its inclusion in the Heritage Overlay.

Individual insurers vary but there is no requirement under the Heritage Overlay to rebuild a replica of the building should the original be destroyed.

An original colour scheme is encouraged but rarely mandatory. A sensitive but not strictly authentic colour scheme may also be appropriate. Unpainted surfaces such as exposed brickwork, or ‘ghost signs’ should not be painted.

You can find out more information about heritage planning and conservation in Central Goldfields Shire on our Heritage Planning webpage here.

• Central Goldfields Shire’s heritage places are highly valued by Council and the community for providing a meaningful link to the past and for enhancing the current built environment.
• Talbot’s heritage places are central to the town’s unique goldfields character and distinct identity. These places include individual places, precincts or heritage group listings, and can be residential and non-residential places, parks and gardens, and infrastructure.
• Respect for our cultural heritage involves protecting and conserving places of local heritage significance that have importance to us as a community. The Central Goldfields Planning Scheme is one of the ways Council protects locally significant heritage places.
• You can find out more information about heritage planning and conservation in Central Goldfields Shire on our Heritage Planning webpage here.

• The Heritage Overlay is a planning control contained within the Central Goldfields Planning Scheme (Clause 43.01). The control is applied to either individual heritage places (usually buildings but sometimes other structures, trees or gardens) or heritage precincts. A heritage place may be privately or publicly owned. It may have historic, aesthetic, archaeological, architectural, cultural, scientific or social values.
• The Heritage Overlay can apply to an individual place, or a precinct (a precinct can be a grouping of places, or a serial listing of similar places that are not located next to each other).
• If you have any questions about how the requirements of the Heritage Overlay currently applies to your property, you can arrange a phone call or online appointment with Council’s Planning Department via the contact information on this page.
• You can find out more information about heritage planning and conservation in Central Goldfields Shire on our Heritage Planning webpage here.

Heritage places can be varied: while they can contain historic buildings, they may be landscapes, trees, or engineering structures. Some heritage places may not have obvious fabric, but are valued for their association with important events or people.

Historic heritage places’ that are the subject of this project are non-aboriginal heritage places –Aboriginal heritage places (both pre and post contact) are dealt with differently in Victoria.

To help us identify, understand, and care for heritage places in Australia, we use the Burra Charter. To learn more about our special places and the guiding principles that help us to care for them see the video on this page.

For assessment of the heritage values, eight established criteria will be used. These established criteria are known as the HERCON criteria. The HERCON criteria are used is heritage assessments across Australia and provide a standard measure by which places are assessed.

The use of the HERCON criteria in assessment of heritage places as outlined above, as well as the remainder of the project’s assessment method and considerations, is aligned with Planning Practice Note 1 – Applying the Heritage Overlay. This practice note is prepared by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (now DEECA) and is another measure by which assessment of heritage places and preparation of planning controls for their protection, is standardised across municipalities in Victoria.