well as external to Council. Interpretation is often talked about but not acted on. It is an important communication and conservation tool and needs consideration and investment. Support Some people think of heritage overlays as irritating impositions. While it may not be possible to remove this perception, communicating the positive contribution heritage places make to a community and looking at ways to assist heritage property owners are opportunities to be addressed. Best practice Council owns and manages a range of heritage places including buildings and significant trees. Its heritage management practices need to be assessed in order to demonstrate best practice as set out in this plan. Funding To date, other than a small grant from Heritage Victoria for the heritage advisory service, there has been no ongoing budget commitment to heritage. The lack of a heritage strategy makes it more challenging to prioritise work and to apply for external funding. 2. Achievements A substantial amount of work was completed in 2008-2009 addressed the issues identified in 2.1 and to improve the strategic identification, recording and protection of the Shire’s cultural heritage. This includes digitisation of heritage records and completion of a Heritage Gap Study which provides a sound basis for prioritising heritage identification (non Aboriginal). Digitisation of heritage records Four heritage studies have been completed for the area known as the Shire of Nillumbik with the first in 1992. All are paper based, not easily accessible by the community and are vulnerable to loss. In 2009, a successful Council grant application to Heritage Victoria enabled the capture of all Council heritage records on Heritage database, HERMES. This centrally held Victoria’s database is maintained by Heritage Victoria. The benefits are that heritage records are digitised and are part of a state-wide system accessible to a wider range of people. Review Statements of Significance for Heritage Overlay places Council has 267 places on the Heritage Overlay which are protected through the Planning Scheme. A number of the assessments of significance were completed almost 20 years ago and while the historical information and basis of significance are sound, these particular Statements of Significance needed to be revised in order to bring them into line with current best practice and to identify if any additional historical research is required. This work was completed in 2009 with some 160 Statements of Significance being reviewed and input to the HERMES database. Heritage Gap Study
well as external to Council. Interpretation is often talked about but not acted on. It is an important communication and conservation tool and needs consideration and investment. Support Some people think of heritage overlays as irritating impositions. While it may not be possible to remove this perception, communicating the positive contribution heritage places make to a community and looking at ways to assist heritage property owners are opportunities to be addressed. Best practice Council owns and manages a range of heritage places including buildings and significant trees. Its heritage management practices need to be assessed in order to demonstrate best practice as set out in this plan. Funding To date, other than a small grant from Heritage Victoria for the heritage advisory service, there has been no ongoing budget commitment to heritage. The lack of a heritage strategy makes it more challenging to prioritise work and to apply for external funding. 2. Achievements A substantial amount of work was completed in 2008-2009 addressed the issues identified in 2.1 and to improve the strategic identification, recording and protection of the Shire’s cultural heritage. This includes digitisation of heritage records and completion of a Heritage Gap Study which provides a sound basis for prioritising heritage identification (non Aboriginal). Digitisation of heritage records Four heritage studies have been completed for the area known as the Shire of Nillumbik with the first in 1992. All are paper based, not easily accessible by the community and are vulnerable to loss. In 2009, a successful Council grant application to Heritage Victoria enabled the capture of all Council heritage records on Heritage Victoria’s database, HERMES. This centrally held database is maintained by Heritage Victoria. The benefits are that heritage records are digitised and are part of a state-wide system accessible to a wider range of people. Review Statements of Significance for Heritage Overlay places Council has 267 places on the Heritage Overlay which are protected through the Planning Scheme. A number of the assessments of significance were completed almost 20 years ago and while the historical information and basis of significance are sound, these particular Statements of Significance needed to be revised in order to bring them into line with current best practice and to identify if any additional historical research is required. This work was completed in 2009 with some 160 Statements of Significance being reviewed and input to the HERMES database. Heritage Gap Study
heritage_strategy.docx