Update
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback. All submissions were reviewed and reported to the Environmental Planning Committee on 5 February 2024 and Council resolved in its meeting of 12 February 2024 to finalise the Planning Proposal to amend the Woollahra LEP 2014 Schedule 5 to include the St George Church in Rose Bay as a local heritage item. Read the Committee and Council meeting minutes.
Council staff will now work towards finalising the planning proposal by liaising with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, and the Parliamentary Counsel's Office. If you would like to be updated as this project progresses, press +Follow at the top of this page.
Background Information
The proposal to locally heritage list the St George Greek Orthodox Church in Rose Bay was included in the earlier Heritage Study: Places of Worship, Woollahra LGA report, prepared by Council in 2022. The heritage study found that the church meets the criteria for local heritage listing based on its historical and aesthetic qualities, its association with Greek migrant communities in the area following WW1, as well as being a rare example of a Greek Orthodox church that is also a war memorial.
Following additional research and a number of consultations with the community, including a site inspection undertaken by Woollahra Councillors and Council staff in August 2023, Council resolved at its 14 August Meeting to endorse the preparation of a planning proposal to list the St George Greek Orthodox Church and war memorial complex and setting, including interiors and moveable heritage at 90-92 Newcastle Street, Rose Bay (Lots 15 & 16, Sec D, DP 5092) as a local heritage item in Schedule 5 and on the Heritage Map of the Woollahra Local Environmental Plan 2014. Council also resolved to forward this to the Department of Planning and Environment with a request for a Gateway determination to allow public exhibition. View the meeting agenda (which includes the full report) and the meeting minutes.
The Planning Proposal was prepared and submitted to the Department of Planning and Environment in August 2023. Council received the Gateway Determination to amend the Woollahra LEP 2014 to include the St George Greek Orthodox Church as a local heritage item on its heritage schedule in October 2023.
About the planning proposal
The purpose of this planning proposal is to explain the intended effect of an amendment to the Woollahra LEP 2014. An LEP is a legal instrument that zones land and includes standards and controls to regulate the use and nature of development and the management of land. An LEP can also address matters of heritage conservation.
The amendment to the Woollahra LEP 2014 involves the listing of the St George Greek Orthodox Church at 90-92 Newcastle Street, Rose Bay (Lots 15 & 16, Sec D, DP 5092) as a local heritage item in Schedule 5 of the Woollahra LEP 2014 and the associated heritage mapping.
A detailed description of the heritage significance of the church is included in the supporting documents to the planning proposal, the Places of Worship Heritage Study report and associated heritage inventory sheet.
Council has been authorised to use its delegation under section 3.36(2) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 to approve the LEP. The Department of Planning and Environment has classified this planning proposal as 'Standard' as described in the Local Environmental Plan Making Guidelines (Department of Planning and Environment, August 2023).
The Heritage Study report recommended the local heritage listing of five Places of Worship in total. This planning proposal involves the heritage listing of the St George Church only. The remaining four other Places of Worship have been progressing through the process of heritage listing since April 2023, and are now at finalisation stage.
Have your say
The public exhibition period for submitting feedback for this project is now closed.
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