At its meeting on Monday 28 November 2022 Council adopted Amendment C191dare which proposes to apply a permanent Heritage Overlay to land in Thornbury Park Estate.

The adopted amendment reflects a reduced precinct compared to what was originally exhibited. Council’s adopted precinct largely reflects the Planning Panel’s recommendations, with the north-east portion of the original exhibited precinct also retained as it has a high-level of intactness comparable with the Panel’s preferred boundary.

You can view the officers’ report and amendment documents on our website.

View the adopted precinct extent below, or download a higher resolution copy.

Interim heritage overlay for Thornbury Park Estate (Updated 31 October 2024)

On 24 April 2023, the Minister for Planning approved Amendment C213dare which removed 200 properties from the interim Heritage Overlay, consistent with the reduced precinct adopted by Council.

On 24 October 2024, the Minister for Planning approved Amendment C223dare which extends the interim Heritage Overlay until 24 April 2025. The interim controls will continue to apply to the precinct while the Minister considers approval of permanent heritage provisions as part of Amendment C191dare.

Proposed Thornbury Park Estate precinct boundary

What’s happening now?

The Minister for Planning is considering Amendment C191dare.

Talk to us or send an email

If you have specific questions about your property or this amendment proposal, you can book an appointment with a Council officer to discuss the heritage grading and what it means for you or anything about this amendment proposal. You can do this by calling Strategic Planning on 8470 8141 or emailing planningservices@darebin.vic.gov.au.

If you would like to speak to someone in your preferred language about the Thornbury Park Estate Amendment, please contact us or call 8470 8470 to be connected to a Language Aide or an interpreter.

Information about the proposed Heritage Overlay

You can watch the video to find out more about the proposed Heritage Overlay for the Thornbury Park Estate area.

Why should the Thornbury Park Estate area be protected?

Council wants to ensure that areas of heritage value in Darebin are protected into the future. Council also has a duty to enhance and conserve heritage places under the Planning and Environment Act 1987.

A detailed heritage study found the Thornbury Park Estate Precinct is of historical significance to the City of Darebin. This is because there are many good and generally intact examples of historic Interwar, Edwardian, and late Federation period homes.

Increasing development pressure in the Thornbury Park Estate area has put the heritage significance of the precinct at risk. Permanent planning controls are a tool Council can use to protect it.

In general, a heritage overlay means you will need to apply for a planning permit from Council if you want to make external changes to your home (some minor buildings and works are exempt). Any new development will need to be responsive to the heritage value of the area.

There are different requirements depending on the heritage grading of your property.

What's happened so far?

Council ran community consultation from 3 August, 2021 until 15 October, 2021 with information distributed via letters, our Your Say page and Facebook page and invited submissions from the local community in this period. Thank you for your submissions. Following Council’s resolution at Planning Committee on 13 December 2021, Council will be undertaking further community consultation to engage with our diverse community and hear their views on this amendment.

Council held two online information sessions, where the community could find out more about these proposed changes and ask general questions.

To view to the online forum from Saturday 28 August you can watch the video recording.

To view to the online forum from Thursday 2 September 2021 you can watch the video recording.

Following the Planning Committee Meeting on 13 December, 2021, to allow more time to consult the community and receive feedback from our diverse residents further consultation was arranged in February 2022 as outlined below.

Thornbury Park Estate – further diverse community consultation

A number of outdoor pop up sessions with interpreters were undertaken on Thursday 24th February and Saturday 26th February. Thank you to all those community members who attended these sessions.

Written submissions closed at 12pm on Monday 28 March, 2022.

The proposal and the findings from consultation, including the response to submissions were presented to Council on the 29 March 2022 Council Meeting.

Planning Panel Hearing

The Minister for Planning appointed an independent Planning Panel to consider all submissions to Amendment C191dare - Thornbury Park Estate.

The Planning Panel Hearing was held on Tuesday 12 July 2022 and Wednesday 13 July 2022.

Panel considered submissions and prepared a report which, among other things, recommended that the size of the heritage precinct be reduced.

Additional documents considered at Panel:

Read the Sustainability and Heritage Report (Hip V. Hype, 2022).

Read the expert witness heritage report.

Additional Project Information

In 2019, a 1920s church manse at 31-33 Comas Grove Thornbury, was identified by Council as being at risk of demolition. This property is no longer at risk of demolition, but this prompted Council to consider the heritage value of the manse.

A preliminary assessment into the heritage significance of 31-33 Comas Grove found that while the church manse was not individually significant, the property was likely to be significant when considered as part of a heritage precinct within the broader area.

This area is known as Thornbury Park Estate and is an area in Thornbury bound by Strettle Street to the west, Miller Street to the north, Smith Street to the south, and extending east to St Georges Road. This area was once all one property that was known as Thornbury Park Estate, and was subdivided into different lots in 1911, with additional building occurring throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s.

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