Fraser Coast Regional Council is committed to ensuring that strategic planning recognises and enhances the local character of an area, and that communities share what they value about their area to inform planning and decision making. We need to ensure that the right tools are available in the planning system to enable shared visions for the future to be effectively realised.
Hervey Bay has long been overlooked in respect to the character of the built environment. Fraser Coast Regional Council have undertaken an initial survey of the streets of Hervey Bay, Toogoom, Burrum Heads and Torbanlea and found that the housing styles and development patterns are rich and varied.
Hervey Bay as a township, had a slow beginning, but has always been a low key ‘lifestyle’ oriented place. Hervey Bay is lucky in that it has buildings from the late 19th century through to kitsch motels from the 1970s and everything in-between. We know from the initial street survey that a greater number of places in Hervey Bay represent post-World War II heritage, and reflect coastal style development. (See Gallery)
- How do we effectively manage development in these areas?
- Are some areas or individual sites special enough to include on character overlays to protect, limit, or shape development in a certain way?
- Should Council develop guidelines that encourage homeowners to preserve character places irrespective of whether character areas and a demolition control precincts are adopted by Council?
Do we have character in Hervey Bay? We invite you to take this journey with us.
Check out our activities below:
- Pin your ideas on our interactive map
- Join the character discussion - upload your own ideas and images
- Check out the interactive images - add your comments directly to the image
