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Local governments throughout Western Australia will share in $317,574 in State Government funding to assess, review, and develop local heritage frameworks that support community heritage through their local planning schemes.

The 2021-22 Local Government Heritage Consultancy Grants will provide 20 local governments with funding of up to $20,000 each so they can engage specialist heritage consultants to support the delivery of local heritage services.

The funding will help local governments to review and develop local heritage surveys (LHS), heritage lists, investigate potential heritage areas, and create heritage-related local planning policies, strategies and guiding documents.

Under the Heritage Act 2018, local governments are required to have a LHS, previously known as a Municipal Inventory. The Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015 require local governments to establish and maintain a heritage list to identify places that are of cultural heritage significance and worthy of built heritage conservation in their locality.

To develop an LHS, local governments work with their communities to identify and record places which are, or might become, a place of cultural heritage significance. The LHS is then mapped and made available through public mapping systems such as PlanWA and Landgate’s Property Interest Reports.

Identifying heritage places in the LHS supports the sharing of community history, development of education programs and heritage trails, and helps local governments to identify how heritage places will be protected through the heritage list.

The grants provide local governments with practical, immediate support to undertake critical work on their local heritage frameworks over the next 12 to 18 months.

As stated by Heritage Minister David Templeman:

“Local governments, through close engagement with their communities, perform a central role in identifying and protecting places of cultural heritage significance within their districts.

“These places are extremely important to their community fabric because they contribute to a feeling of connectedness and sense of place.

“We are committed to protecting our heritage places and I’m proud that we can support 20 local governments to complete this critical work through this year’s Local Government Heritage Consultancy Grants program. 

“This funding will help local governments to work with heritage specialists to identify and record heritage places and develop the appropriate frameworks to protect these places for their communities, now, and for the future.”

As stated by Local Government Minister John Carey:

“The Local Government Heritage Consultancy Grants will play a vital role in enabling local governments to protect heritage places.

“As local governments are at the very heart of our communities, this is an essential function to preserve our communities’ unique spaces.

“The local governments receiving these grants will each have very different heritage places, each requiring a unique framework. These grants will enable them to undertake this important work.”

2021-22 Local Government Heritage Consultancy Grants Recipients