By Mikayla van Loon
Yarra Ranges Council has continued its due diligence as it works towards gaining heritage protection for 13 significant sites in Lilydale.
At the council meeting on Tuesday 11 April, submissions both supporting and objecting to the amendment to the heritage overlay were acknowledged and voted to be passed onto an independent panel for consideration.
Amendment C207 proposes that a heritage overlay be applied to 13 buildings and street trees, with a further seven needing updated statements of significance.
This was put out for community consultation between 10 November and 12 December last year, with five submissions received.
Two submissions returned opposed the application for heritage overlay on two separate tree applications due to the health of the trees. One submission supported the amendment but requested a number of modifications, while two submissions had no objection to the application.
Having been working with the council for many years to see these proposed sites receive heritage protection, Lilydale and District Historical Society president Sue Thompson said it has been extremely valuable for the society to have done so.
“They employed us as consultants to provide the images of the buildings and while not necessarily critical to the criteria required, we also researched to provide the stories of each of the Main Street buildings,” she said.
“This is vital to us as the buildings we have today were created in the past and to properly preserve and interpret them we must know the who, what, where, why and how it was created.
“While all that information may not be included in each citation of each building, we certainly now have that in our archive and it’s now of course accessible to anybody.”
Focusing on the importance of Lilydale’s street trees, several have now been included in the amendment, something that Ms Thompson said separates Lilydale from other towns.
“Lilydale’s street trees are now the town’s chief point of difference from other towns that are in the Yarra Ranges,” she said.
“Our trees and our rich history are Lilydale’s key values and should be built on by the strategies presently being developed for the town.”
Councillor Sophie Todorov moved the motion to request an independent planning panel be appointed by the planning minister, noting the risk if this process isn’t completed properly.
“It’s only fair and due process to have this referred to an independent planning panel to consider as we have done in some other matters coming before council. They are the experts here and will obviously give us their fair decisions and considerations,” she said.
Although furthering this onto a panel for consideration does come at an extra cost to the council, Cr Todorov said it is not
“It far outweighs the risk of not having this done through this process, risking our significant places having no appropriate heritage overlay controls or significant place descriptions.
“Not including their importance and how they have shaped the history of Lilydale and the broader Yarra Ranges as well and more importantly risking [them] being damaged or even demolished.”
Cr Johanna Skelton seconded the motion and said it was not in the best interest of the council to abandon any of the sites listed for heritage overlay.
“It’s actually quite a privilege as a council that we get to support these historically significant sites and the historic importance of some of these things,” she said.
“It’s easy for these things to be lost and certainly we’ve heard about some of the sites that are degrading and people are worried that they’re going to be lost through that process as well.
“It’s a responsibility of the council that we take our obligations under the planning and environment act seriously and recognise these sites and work to protect them.”
The motion was carried unanimously.
