You can answer this question using the three-part format of ‘What is significant?’; ‘How is it significant?’ and ‘Why is it significant?’. You will find the answers to these questions in the Heritage Study incorporated into your local planning scheme. It is usually accessible on the council website or ask the council.
What is significant? – This section should be brief, usually no more than one paragraph or a series of dot points. There should be no doubt about the elements of the place that are under discussion. The paragraph should identify features or elements that are significant about the place, for example, house, outbuildings, garden, plantings, ruins, archaeological sites, interiors as a guide to future decision makers.
How is it significant? – A sentence should be included to the effect that the place is important because of its historical significance, its rarity, its research potential, its representativeness, its aesthetic significance, its technical significance and/ or its associative significance. These descriptors are shown in brackets at the end of the heritage criteria listed above. The sentence should indicate the threshold for which the place is considered important.
Why is it significant? – This should elaborate on the criteria that makes the place significant. A separate point or paragraph should be used for each criterion satisfied. The relevant criterion should be inserted in brackets after each point or paragraph. Each point or paragraph may include the threshold for which the place is considered important.
Derived from: Applying the Heritage Overlay by the State of Victoria