Alpine Shire Council will prepare a planning scheme amendment to apply the Heritage Overlay to a section of trees along the Great Alpine Road at the western gateway of Bright.
This decision, made at last night's Council Meeting, follows a detailed landscape and heritage assessment by GML Heritage Victoria Pty Ltd.
After receiving a petition from the Bright community in early 2023 with 118 signatures, Council engaged GML Heritage Victoria Pty Ltd to undertake a preliminary assessment of the avenue of trees to determine if the avenue, or parts of it, met the threshold of local heritage significance.
The preliminary findings, received in mid-2023, suggested that Section 1, which includes Pin Oak and Dutch Elm trees planted in the 1960s, needed a further more detailed study.
A detailed assessment received in July 2024 confirmed that Section 1 of the avenue is of local historical, aesthetic, and social importance to Bright and the wider Alpine Shire.
Acting Director Assets, Michael MacDonagh, said the assessment found that the avenue meets the threshold local heritage significance, meaning it the Heritage Overlay should apply to the land.
"The Heritage Overlay is a planning tool used to protect places of heritage significance in Victoria," he said.
"By applying the Heritage Overlay to the avenue of trees, Council wants to ensure that any future development or buildings and works within the extent of the overlay do not detrimentally impact upon the continued heritage significance of the avenue.
"The application of the Heritage Overlay triggers planning permission for buildings and works within the overlay, which provides statutory weight to the careful consideration of impacts on the heritage significance of the avenue.
"It is important to note, however, that the application of a Heritage Overlay to part of the avenue cannot revisit the granting of a planning permit in late 2023 for the first two stages of a multi-stage residential subdivision to the south of the avenue known as the Bright Valley Development.
"This permit allows for the removal of two mature trees and the relocation of three smaller trees from the avenue to allow for an intersection to access the first stages of the subdivision."