Designated historic and character areas in a section of Adelaide’s eastern suburbs will be reviewed to ensure there’s greater efficiency and transparency when assessing development applications.
The City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters is running the Historic Area and Character Area Statements Review Code Amendment which will analyse the 25 Historic Areas and 6 Character Areas across various suburbs including Norwood, Kent Town and Kensington.
The code amendment will ensure that the Historic and Character statements contain relevant and clear information to enable effective and efficient decision-making during development application assessments.
These statements are relied upon by architects, planners and heritage specialists to have a clear understanding of the designs and protections required for development assessments.
This will ensure areas with significant heritage and character will retain their significance and be protected.
The Code Amendment does not include the creation of new planning rules and there are no changes to increase the extent of the Historic Area or Character Area overlays.
The updates will refine wording and include any necessary historical context.
This follows previous work by the Malinauskas Labor Government to encourage councils to increase building protections to significant sites by elevating existing Character Areas to new Historic Areas.
As put by Nick Champion
I want to protect local heritage to ensure we retain our state’s unique look, feel and charm for the enjoyment of future generations.
Character areas are important, so we want to improve clarity and structure around what is and isn’t allowed when updating or renovating heritage and character areas.
It’s important we continue to update and refine the Planning and Design Code to ensure it is working to its full potential.
I would like to commend the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters for progressing this important work to ensure the ongoing protection of its valued heritage assets.
As put by Cressida O’Hanlon
I have spoken to thousands of people in our community and it’s clear from the conversations I’ve had that the issue of preserving our local character and heritage is something people are passionate about.
I live within an Historic Area Overlay. I choose to do so because I absolutely love our community’s historic buildings and charming streetscapes. Our built heritage is part of what makes our area such a special place to live.
The Malinauskas Labor Government’s planning rule changes enables councils to identify those properties needing additional protection and will streamline processes to ensure heritage is retained in proposed developments.
As put by Robert Bria, Mayor City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters
The Council has a proud and strong history regarding heritage protection in our City, which is why it is has initiated an Historic Area and Character Area Statements Review Code Amendment.
We know that within the current Character and Historic Areas, the lack of clarity has generated a degree of anxiety among residents, that the character of their suburb is at risk from inappropriate developments.
We want a Code that provides for greater clarity and certainty for all parties when developments are considered in Character and Historic Areas and the Council believes these changes will deliver that.
