A heritage overlay may affect any building, renovation or maintenance work on your property. The heritage overlay details when you’ll need a planning permit. It also shows the location and the level of heritage controls over a particular heritage place.

You can find out more about the provisions in our planning scheme.

Assess the significance of a property

A statement of significance will accompany a heritage assessment and indicate why the site is important and what to conserve. Documenting what’s significant of a place helps to protect and manage the place appropriately.

Proposals for a planning permit for a heritage place needs to consider the policies and provisions of our planning scheme.

Check to see if a heritage overlay affects your property

Search to see if a heritage overlay affects your property.

When do you need a permit?

When your property has a heritage overlay you’ll need a permit to:

• subdivide or consolidate land
• demolish or remove a building (including part of a building)
• construct a building (including part of a building, or a fence)
• externally alter a building
• construct or carry out works
• construct or display a sign
• externally paint an unpainted surface (refer to note below)
• externally paint a building if the painting constitutes an advertisement.

When do additional controls apply for the heritage overlay

There’ll be some instances where additional controls will apply, such as:

• external paint controls
• internal alteration controls
• control over trees.

Our schedule to the heritage overlay will identify any additional controls.

Making repairs or maintenance on a heritage place

You won’t need a planning permit to carry out routine maintenance and repairs if they don’t change the appearance of the place.

When doing maintenance or repair work, you’ll need to follow the same standards for any:

• details
• specifications
• materials.

If unsure, check with us before doing any repair or maintenance work.

The heritage overlay may not apply to the whole site. Refer to the planning scheme maps online or in our offices.

Demolishing a heritage place

We discourage demolition of a heritage place if it’s individually significant or it contributes to the significance of an area. Demolition will only occur if we find the building structurally unsound.

The statement of significance will say why the place is important.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) can review planning permit decisions.

Manningham has a rich cultural heritage with many significant:

• buildings
• precincts
• trees
• landscapes
• gold mining
• archaeological significant sites.

These heritage places reflect the different phases of Manningham’s development from First Nations to European settlement.

Historical societies

Manningham is home to two historical societies.

• The Doncaster and Templestowe Historical Society was formed in 1967 and maintains Schramm's Cottage in Doncaster.
• The Warrandyte Historical Society was formed in 1976 and maintains the Old Post Office Museum in Warrandyte.

Useful historical resources

You can search and discover where our heritage places are by visiting the following pages:

• Heritage Victoria Search for your or any property on the Victorian heritage register. 
• Manningham heritage database
• Whitehorse Manningham local history database. 

The Whitehorse Manningham local history database is a useful resource for people searching for information about the history of the region. You can now search through four local history databases from the catalogue page of the library website.

1. (Whitehorse Manningham) heritage network
2. cemetery database
3. diggers database
4. petition database

Historical attractions are classified under the following themes:

• Shaping Manningham’s Environment
• Peopling Manningham’s Places and Landscapes
• Transforming and Managing the Land
• Building Community Life
• Cultural and Creative Life.

Use the Manningham Heritage Map to find local historical attractions separated by theme. 

Explore Manningham by foot 

Residents and visitors can explore and experience the rich history and environment of the area by taking our guided walking trails. These are self-guided walks where you can access information on distance, time, degree of difficulty and accessibility.

Historical attractions

Our historical attractions include:

• Old Shire Offices
• Pettys Orchard
• Schramms Cottage 
• Warrandyte Post Office (Former).

Historical walking trails

Our historical walks include:

Walk, Talk and Coffee - Westerfolds park to Templestowe Village Walk

Building the Warrandyte Style - Historic Warrandyte Architectural Walk

A Clearing in the Forest - Waldau Village Historic Walk

Built on Gold - Warrandyte Historic Town Talk

Wine Time Heritage Wander - Historic Wonga Park Walk

Relaxing Riverside Ramble - Warrandyte Riverside Walk

Car Race Hill - The Templestowe Hill Climb Walk.

Self-guided tour

Manningham Modern - a self-guided tour of mid-20th century modern homes in Manningham.

We can provide advice from a qualified heritage advisor on architecture and technical advice for heritage places in the area. Make sure to get advice before making an application for a planning permit. This will resolve any issues relating to design and identify other info for the application process.

The heritage advice our experts can offer

Our heritage advisor will provide advice relating to:

• extent of any proposed demolition works
• new buildings in a heritage area
• modifications to existing heritage buildings
• the colours, design, materials and finishes of a building
• restoration and repair works
• heritage trees and landscaping
• any other relevant heritage matters.

How much does it cost?

Refer to our schedule of fees for the current fee for a pre-application meeting request. After receiving your request for an application meeting, we’ll send you an invoice for payment.

Arrange a meeting with a heritage advisor

Lodge a pre-application advice request online, where you can upload plans and any other supporting documents for consideration.