Heritage Overlay (Clause 43.01) in Greater Bendigo
Last checked 7 July 2026
The Heritage Overlay is used across Victoria to conserve and enhance places of natural or cultural heritage significance, and to make sure development doesn't adversely affect what makes those places significant. Greater Bendigo applies the overlay through a single schedule that individually lists 871 heritage places and precincts, each identified by its own HO reference number.
This describes what Greater Bendigo's planning scheme generally states, as last checked by PolicyPing. It isn't a site-specific assessment or a substitute for advice from a licensed practitioner. For your specific address, see ReefReport. Read the full methodology.
What Clause 43.01 generally requires
Shown on the planning scheme map as HO with a number (if shown).
Purpose
To implement the Municipal Planning Strategy and the Planning Policy Framework.
To conserve and enhance heritage places of natural or cultural significance.
To conserve and enhance those elements which contribute to the significance of heritage places.
To ensure that development does not adversely affect the significance of heritage places.
To conserve specified heritage places by allowing a use that would otherwise be prohibited if this will demonstrably assist with the conservation of the significance of the heritage place.
Scope
The requirements of this overlay apply to heritage places specified in the schedule to this overlay. A heritage place includes both the listed heritage item and its associated land. Heritage places may also be shown on the planning scheme map.
How Greater Bendigo's scheme varies this
Unlike a zone schedule that sets one set of standards for a whole area, Greater Bendigo's Heritage Overlay schedule sets out, place by place, which specific controls apply: external paint controls, internal alteration controls, tree controls, solar energy system controls, outbuilding or fence controls, whether the place is also on the Victorian Heritage Register, whether otherwise-prohibited uses are permitted, and whether the place is an Aboriginal heritage place.
For example, the schedule entry for HO947 (Adam Street, Golden Square) records tree controls applying to a specific listed Chinese Windmill Palm and outbuilding controls at one address in the precinct, but not external paint or internal alteration controls — a different combination to most other listed places. What applies to any one property genuinely depends on that property's own schedule entry, not a single blanket rule for the whole overlay.
Where this applies
This applies only to land individually shown with a Heritage Overlay (HO) on the Greater Bendigo planning scheme map — that is, land listed in the schedule above. It does not apply municipality-wide.
Frequently asked questions
How many heritage places does the Heritage Overlay cover in Greater Bendigo?
Greater Bendigo's Heritage Overlay schedule individually lists 871 heritage places and precincts, each with its own HO reference number and its own combination of controls.
Does the Heritage Overlay apply the same rules to every listed property?
No. Each listed place's schedule entry specifies which controls apply to it — for example external paint, internal alteration, tree, solar, or outbuilding/fence controls — and these vary from place to place rather than following one blanket rule.
Do I need a planning permit to remove a tree on a heritage-listed property?
This generally depends on whether tree controls are recorded as applying to that specific listed place in the schedule, and on which tree is affected. Where tree controls apply, removing or significantly pruning a listed tree generally requires a permit under the overlay.