A heritage overlay has recently been implemented over eight separate precincts within West Footscray impacting over 900 homes.  This overlay has been applied in response to a community survey in 2018, in which a small number of residents requested more controls to assist in maintaining the character of West Footscray and prevent the construction of inappropriately scaled developments.

Members of the West Footscray community, your neighbours, are writing to council outlining our concerns with this policy and are asking others in the affected precincts and throughout West Footscray for help.

Whilst the council has several tools that it can use to maintain the character of a suburb (including development overlays which are specifically designed to control the location and scale of construction projects) it has chosen to implement a heritage overlay, which unfortunately will have several unintended consequences that burden our community.

We have seen a number of these consequences eventuate, including:

• failure to prevent inappropriately located townhouses;
• rejection of positive changes and modification to homes;
• expensive repair costs imposed on individuals and families ;
• exacerbating the shortage of suitable family homes;
• detrimental environmental impacts of maintaining energy inefficient buildings; and
• financial and emotional burden on individuals and families who have had the heritage overlay imposed without notice or adequate consultation.

We have provided further detail on the West Footscray specific consequences of heritage overlays on the attachment. More information about the heritage overlay can be found on Maribyrnong Councils website https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/amendmentc172

As confirmed by council, the 2018 survey that this policy aimed to address contained just 85 responses and only 19 residents attended the related public information sessions. Of these responses, over 80% supported the draft neighbourhood plan without any new heritage overlays and of the twelve built form comment identified by council, just one mentioned a need for heritage controls. All five of the twelve comments objecting to the increased building heights were rejected by council.

Based on this data and the impacts listed above we suggest that the implementation of a heritage overlay misconstrues the results of the community consultation.

You can voice your opinions on this issue by signing our petition using the below QR code below, and providing council with written feedback at the following website https://www.yourcityyourvoice.com.au/amendment-c172

Key Issues

Failure to prevent inappropriately located townhouses being developed

Townhouses are an important inclusion in a suburb as they provide a more affordable housing option, and a first step for first home buyers entering the property market. However, it’s vital that townhouses are built in appropriate locations as they can have large impacts to neighbours with overlooking, overshadowing, and parking problems. This new overlay will have no impact on the number of townhouses built, as it doesn’t change the supply and demand dynamics of the townhouse market. What typically transpires is that townhouse developments become even more common in areas outside the heritage overlay, which in this case would impact streets like Alma St, Stanhope St and Clive St among others. This overlay entirely fails to address the community feedback and concerns regarding the proposed 4-6 storey apartment buildings along Barkly St and 8 storey apartment buildings adjacent Whitten Oval.

 

Positive changes that people try to make to their homes being denied

Common upgrades to existing homes such as replacing front fences, enclosing a carport with a garage door, or building a veranda over the front door can become virtually impossible under this new overlay. Changes which make front yards more usable are essentially banned under this overlay and given that front yards are a key piece of social infrastructure where we interact with our neighbours, the inability to improve them will be a major negative outcome for our community. More information on these additional restrictions can be found in the attachments titled Heritage Design Guidelines, (at the bottom of the page) https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/amendmentc172  

 

More expensive repairs imposed on individuals and families

Many of the houses in our suburb are aging poorly. In particular, leaking tiled roofs, shallow foundations and crumbling disused chimneys are becoming more and more common throughout the suburb. Some of the key fixes that will improve the longevity of these homes such as replacing tiles with lighter Colourbond are banned under this new overlay, forcing homeowners into much more expensive structural repairs. For many homeowners, these repairs will be too expensive, unfortunately, delaying these vital repairs can often exacerbate future repair costs.

 

Exacerbating the shortage of family homes

The census data shows an ever-increasing proportion of young families calling West Footscray home. The extreme price difference between 2-bedroom homes and 4-bedroom homes (384k in West Footscray vs 130k in Sunshine according to realestate.com) highlights the large shortage of family homes within the suburb. It is vital that our housing stock is flexible to change to meet the evolving needs of our community. Unfortunately, this heritage overlay may have the opposite effect; making extensions more expensive, time consuming and generally acting as a disincentive for change. A large portion of the houses listed in the heritage overlay are 2-bedroom homes, often unsuitable for the needs of growing families, particularly with the recent working from home requirements.

 

Environmental impacts of running and maintaining energy inefficient buildings

The overlay in many instances, prevents new solar panels visible from the street from being installed, significantly impacting the ability of West Footscray residents to harness sustainable forms of energy. As mentioned, many of the houses in our suburb are aging poorly and aren’t close to meeting modern day building standards. Upgrading these homes to meet current best practice for energy efficiency can be difficult enough without the additional restrictions of the heritage overlay. For many homeowners, the dream of an energy efficient home may become financially unviable with the additional restrictions of the heritage overlay in place. I have already seen examples in our neighbourhood where homeowners have been forced to abandon energy efficiency upgrades due to the additional costs.

 

Financial and emotional burden on individuals and families who have had the heritage overlay imposed without notice

This policy impacts everyone differently. For some the costs of this change are non-existent, but for others the financial and emotional costs are life changing. Consider those homeowners who have been preparing plans for their dream home over a number of years only to now have their proposals rejected, their plans crushed by the heritage overlay. Consider any local residents who have recently purchased with the intention of extending or rejuvenating being forced to abandon these plans, unable to afford the cost that the additional restrictions invoke, losing their stamp duty and sometimes significant property value in the process. The implementation of this policy without notice or adequate consultation has is unfair and unjust, and the costs could be be in excess of $100k.