A Historic Chance to Protect Our Past in Planning Victoria’s Future

The Victorian Government has recently introduced significant changes to the Victoria Planning Provisions (VPP) through amendments VC257, VC267, and VC274. While these provisions aim to address housing supply issues, they raise important questions about the protection of our state’s cultural heritage. We believe the right amendments can and should grow housing supply and protect cultural heritage.

In our recent submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry examining these amendments, and consultation on the Plan for Victoria, the National Trust highlighted key concerns and opportunities that deserve wider community attention.

What’s Happening? Understanding the Recent Planning Amendments

In February 2025 the State Government introduced three major planning amendments aimed at streamlining development approvals and increasing housing density, particularly in designated “Activity Centres.” The key changes include:

1. Activity Centre Planning Provisions: New planning mechanisms that prioritise increased housing density in designated activity centres across Victoria.
2. Streamlined Approval Pathways: Reduced notice and review requirements for certain residential developments, creating “deemed to comply” provisions that prioritise quantitative standards (like height and setbacks) over qualitative considerations.
3. Revised Clause 55 Standards: Modified standards for residential development with new landscaping provisions focused on planting new trees rather than retaining existing mature trees.
4. Townhouse Code: New provisions that standardise development approaches for medium-density housing.

What’s noticeably absent from these amendments is any explicit reference to heritage places, heritage planning policies, or guidance on how existing Heritage Overlays will be integrated alongside these new provisions. This omission has created significant uncertainty for communities, property owners, and local councils about how cultural heritage will be protected amid these streamlined development processes.

As a result, a Parliamentary Inquiry is now underway and will consider and report on whether the amendments give proper effect to the objectives of planning in Victoria, and the objectives of the planning framework, as set out in section 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987.

The Inquiry’s recommendations could play a significant role in shaping public policy and legislation by applying pressure on the State Government to change course—potentially leading to the amendment or repeal of the provisions in question.

The Unintended Outcomes: What Could Go Wrong?

While the National Trust supports increasing housing supply and believes this can be achieved alongside retaining our valued heritage, we’ve identified several unintended consequences for heritage that could arise from these current amendments:

Loss of Unassessed Heritage

By exempting certain developments from notice and review requirements, sites with potential heritage value but no formal Heritage Overlay protection may be lost before they can be properly assessed. This is particularly concerning in areas where heritage gap studies have been initiated but not yet implemented into planning schemes.

Degradation of Heritage Streetscapes

The “deemed to comply” provisions risk undermining the integrity of heritage streetscapes and precincts by prioritising quantitative standards over qualitative considerations essential for heritage conservation. When developments can proceed simply by meeting numerical benchmarks, the subtleties of neighbourhood character and heritage significance can be overlooked.

Reduced Tree Canopy and Green Space

The amended landscaping provisions focus on planting new trees rather than retaining existing mature canopy trees. This approach fails to recognise that established trees provide immediate environmental benefits that newly planted trees cannot match for decades.

Unsustainable Development Patterns

Without clear guidance supporting adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, these amendments may inadvertently increase demolition rates in favour of new construction—releasing embodied carbon instead of promoting sustainable reuse of existing structures.

The Opportunity: What Should We Be Doing Instead?

The current planning reforms represent a rare opportunity to create a more integrated and sustainable planning system that meets housing needs and protects Victoria’s distinctive character.

The National Trust believes a thoughtful, place-based approach is not just a heritage principle, it is a key urban design and sustainability principle. It involves understanding local context and responding to the specific conditions, nuance and distinctiveness of a place. This approach ensures the qualities that draw us to live in these places are not lost in the process of change. Instead, thoughtful change adds a new layer of richness.

Here’s what we believe should be done to achieve this goal:

1. Integrate Heritage and Housing Objectives

Rather than positioning heritage as an obstacle to housing supply, planning policies should recognise the potential for adaptive reuse of heritage buildings to contribute to housing supply while preserving cultural heritage. Heritage buildings can be reimagined and updated as apartments, townhouses, or mixed-use developments that add to housing stock while maintaining the character that makes our communities special.

2. Create Clear Heritage Guidance

The amendments should be revised to explicitly state how Heritage Overlays and local heritage policies interact with Activity Centre planning provisions. This would provide certainty for property owners, developers, and local councils.

3. Introduce Heritage Impact Assessments

A requirement for heritage impact assessments for developments affecting heritage places would ensure cultural values are properly considered even within streamlined approval processes.

4. Restore Community Input

Notice and review rights should be maintained for developments in or adjacent to Heritage Overlay areas, ensuring community input on matters affecting local heritage significance.

5. Strengthen Environmental Protections

Tree protection measures should be strengthened by requiring the retention of existing mature trees unless demonstrated to be impossible, recognising their immediate environmental benefits in our warming climate.

6. Empower Local Decision-Making

Local councils should be involved in planning efficacious decision-making processes that affect their communities, ensuring that planning outcomes respond to local conditions and distinctiveness rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

7. Establish Dedicated Heritage Expertise

A dedicated heritage planning unit within the Department of Transport and Planning would provide much-needed expertise on heritage matters, ensuring heritage considerations are integrated into all planning reforms.

A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity

The current planning reforms offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape Victoria’s planning system. By thoughtfully integrating heritage considerations into these reforms, we can create a system that both increases housing supply and protects the cultural heritage that makes Victoria unique.

Response to ‘place’ should be central to planning processes, not forgotten when streamlining development. Incorporating heritage values is what makes our towns and cities liveable and distinctively Victorian. The consideration of the holistic values of place and community will assist in addressing the current housing crisis while enriching our state with places that meet the liveability needs of Victorians today and tomorrow.

What makes our cities, towns and regions some of the most liveable places in the world is our vibrant culture, underpinned and exemplified by our heritage. By embracing cultural heritage and cultural landscapes, we only bring more richness and vibrancy into our places. Good housing solutions reflect the values of the communities they serve. We don’t need endless suburbs built, we need nuanced and enriching development that embraces the things we love about our cities, suburbs and regions.

We are encouraging all Victorians who care about the future of our built and natural environment to engage with these planning reforms and advocate for a balanced approach that values our heritage while meeting our housing needs.

What You Can Do

Contact your local MP by Friday May 9th, before the Committee will present its final report on Tuesday May 13th – and ask them to support the National Trust’s recommendations for a planning system that:

• Recognises and protects heritage values
• Integrates heritage early in planning decisions
• Promotes design excellence that responds to place and identity

WRITE TO YOUR MP