Concerns over heritage properties

SOME members of the community are concerned real estate around the city centre such as heritage houses are being taken up by businesses rather than being prioritised as homes.

President of the Bendigo branch of the National Trust Peter Cox said the organisation had held concerns for a while.

The main area of focus for the branch is between Short Street and Myrtle Street, which has the State Government’s heritage overlay.

“[Businesses] tend to destroy the fabric of the home and they pull up gardens, they want to put concrete down to provide car parking, they do alterations that suit them,” said Mr Cox.

“We’re not talking about people who are working from home, but I’m talking about doctors’ surgeries, or dental practices, or consultants of some sort.

“We need every house for accommodating people rather than business.”

City of Greater Bendigo’s strategic project manager Wonona Fuzzard said there are plans to gradually address the creep of office space into traditionally residential areas.

“Back in May 2020, we had the City Centre Plan adopted by council, and part of that was looking at our whole city centre and what’s in there and what we need in there,” she said.

“We’ve identified it as a premium residential area, and over time we want to see that converted back to residential to support all the commercial businesses that are in the core bit of the city centre.”

Part of the City’s goals for the area, known as ‘precinct three’ in the plan, are to put in a cycling route along Hargreaves Street, encouraging restoration of heritage buildings, and to promote turning hard ground back into gardens.

The City is currently working with the Department of Transport and Planning, said Ms Fuzzard, to implement the City Centre Plan and an associated urban design framework into the planning scheme.

“Yes, over time we want them to move, but we do have to understand they have specifically purchased those properties for commercial use,” she said.

“The reason why we’re doing it is we want a more compact commercial core in the city centre and we want more people in the city centre.

“It’ll have different requirements than the core commercial areas and really promote the role and the character of that area as being residential without stripping anyone of their rights that they already have.”