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Neighbourhood character documents

In planning terms, ‘character’ is a description of how distinctive and common features of an area come together to form a visual identity – put simply, it’s the look and feel of a place. For example, building height, building materials, landscaping, setbacks from boundaries and many more elements combine to form a local character.

Protecting character is not about stopping or restricting development, but ensuring new development provides housing supply and diversity, while respecting the local character.

Neighbourhood Character review

The Neighbourhood Character Review Stage 1 identifies 27 neighbourhood character precincts across Bayside.

Stage 2 of the Review identified areas across Bayside that are considered to have a high or moderate degree of neighbourhood character significance.

Brochures for each precinct included in the policy

Highett Neighbourhood Character Review

This project relates to two separate areas in Highett which were zoned for industrial purposes at the time of the Bayside Neighbourhood Character Review but have since been changed to residential zoning. As these two areas were not zoned for residential use at the time of the Neighbourhood Character Review, they were not included and therefore had no neighbourhood character controls in the planning scheme. This project determined appropriate character controls for the two sites. These controls were implemented into the planning scheme in July 2013 through Amendment C109.