Our People, Culture & Place: A plan to sustain Ballarat’s heritage 2017-2030

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Heritage is of critical importance to the Ballarat community and the city’s future. In whole-of-city consultations, the people of Ballarat said, of all the things they value about Ballarat, they love its heritage the most and want to retain it. They also said they want Council to show leadership to achieve this vision. Our People, Culture & Place: A plan to sustain Ballarat’s heritage 2017-2030 is not just a strategy, but a plan of action for delivery, and provides a best practice platform for making this happen. It commits the City of Ballarat and key stakeholders to stepping up their efforts to sustain the city’s heritage and ensure it is vibrant and celebrated into the future.

The plan was adopted by the Ballarat City Council in December 2017. It recognises that the responsibility for heritage is shared, having been shaped by the local community, key stakeholders and across all departments of the City of Ballarat through focused conversations since 2013, as part of the city’s Historic Urban Landscape or ‘HUL’ program. Their priorities for sustaining Ballarat’s heritage, together with background studies into local opportunities for heritage, have formed the basis of specific objectives and deliverables set out in the plan.

More information about the HUL program and how Our People, Culture & Place: A plan to sustain Ballarat’s heritage 2017-2030 was developed can be found in the Documents section below.

About the plan

Our People, Culture & Place: A plan to sustain Ballarat’s heritage 2017 – 2030 is a whole-of-city action plan that details locally and collaboratively developed projects and programs under three key priority areas: 

Regeneration

Regeneration is a conservation method that can bring back life, activity, relevance and function to historic places.

The City of Ballarat is delivering:

Celebrating and inspiring with Ballarat’s stories

Storytelling – also known as interpretation – is a valuable tool. It can pass on knowledge, enhance heritage experiences and inspire change in Ballarat’s historic environment. Done well, it can also create employment and attract businesses and creative industries to Ballarat.

The City of Ballarat is delivering:

  • online information about Ballarat's stories
  • a network and toolkit for people wanting to tap into stories for business and creative activities
  • a one-stop-shop heritage hub
  • revitalising heritage tourism
  • a creative heart in Ballarat's CBD.

Managing change and safeguarding heritage

Ballarat is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Victoria. Large-scale and higher density development is appearing in our city and a larger population will require more services and infrastructure. There is a lot we can do to better inform development decisions that will safeguard Ballarat’s heritage and identity. To achieve this, our planning tools and practices are evolving.

The City of Ballarat is:

  • evolving Aboriginal Cultural Heritage best practice
  • delivering local plans for local communities and urban renewal projects
  • undertaking a review of the Ballarat Planning Scheme
  • undertaking a CBD planning package to provide a clearer development framework
  • evolving digital decision-making and engagement tools (such as 3D).

 

What’s happening right now and how do I get involved?

TwitterRead the latest heritage news

 

Documents

Summary papers