Heritage has a special value for the present community and for future generations, providing a unique identity to the City.
The City of Canterbury-Bankstown has a diverse range of heritage items and areas. Most date from the early suburban development of the City from the 1870s until the 1940s.
While most listed items are houses, there is also a variety of other building types and places including commercial buildings, factories, parks, monuments, trees, bridges, and railway stations. There is also the Ashbury Heritage Conservation Area, which includes most of the suburb of Ashbury and part of Croydon Park, as well as six Heritage Conservation Areas in the suburb of Hurlstone Park.
To help property owners, or those who have an interest in the heritage of the City, Council has created resources on what heritage is, ownership of heritage listed properties, Council's heritage grant fund and general heritage resources and controls.
Heritage' can be defined as those things that we as a community want to retain for present and future generations. The Australia ICOMOS charter for the conservation of places of cultural significance identifies heritage significance (also known as cultural significance) as:'' aesthetic, historic, scientific, social or spiritual value for past, present or future generations''.
These heritage values may be present in a building or a group of buildings, a street, a town, a landscape, an object, or even a place without visible evidence of its past (such as the site of an important historical event).
Age is not a pre-requisite for heritage value. A place has heritage value if it is found to have aesthetic, historic, scientific, social, or spiritual value, irrespective of its age.
Before a place is listed as a heritage item, it is first assessed to determine its significance. In NSW the seven heritage assessment criteria are:
- Historical significance
- Historical association
- Aesthetic significance
- Social significance
- Technical/research significance
- Rarity
- Representativeness
To be considered a heritage item, a place must fulfil one or more of these criteria.
The main way Council protects heritage is through listing in our Local Environmental Plan (LEP) – Canterbury-Bankstown Local Environmental Plan 2023. This provides statutory protection for heritage items and heritage conservation areas.
A heritage item is a building or place that is of individual importance for its historic, aesthetic, social and/or technical value.
Heritage conservation areas are places where Council has identified a significant streetscape or broader built environment. In these areas a group of buildings, often combined with an important subdivision pattern, will form a significant townscape or streetscape. A conservation area will usually have a consistent form, scale and architectural character that is considered worthy of protection. Sometimes a conservation area is significant for its diversity and evidence of the changing patterns of development in an area.
Council can also place an interim heritage order over a place that it believes may have heritage value but is not listed in our LEP. This order provides interim protection until the heritage significance of the property has been assessed.
A common misconception of heritage listing is that you can no longer make changes to a property.
This is not correct. Being heritage listed or located in a heritage conservation area does not prevent someone from making changes to a property or undertaking additions or new work. The listing is simply a way to ensure that the new work or new use is compatible with, or complements, the heritage place. Normally, making changes to a heritage listed requires development consent.
If you require any further information, please contact our heritage adviser on 9707 9000. They are usually available on Thursdays.
The NSW heritage office also provides incentives for the owners of state heritage listed properties.
Council provides a free heritage advisory service to the community. Advice can be provided on the following matters:
- Building restoration
- Appropriate ways to adapt a heritage building to modern living requirements
- Development application requirements
- Information on funding opportunities
- Any other issues affecting the conservation of heritage buildings, streetscapes, and landscapes in the local area
All owners of older buildings, not just heritage items, can make use of this service.
Our heritage advisor is generally available on Thursdays and can be contacted on 9707 9000.
Council allows the refund of development application fees for heritage listed properties in certain circumstances.
Section 5.3.2 of Council's heritage incentives policy provides details of the fee refund eligibility criteria waivers.
The LEP contains a list of heritage items, heritage conservations, archaeological sites and aboriginal heritage.
Within the DCP is the Ashbury and Hurlstone Park heritage conservation areas character statements and the heritage guide
The SEPP provides guidance on what types of development are deemed exempt or complying. This can be used to understand what is permitted without a development application when dealing with heritage items. It is recommended a heritage or planning consultant is spoken to before undertaking works.
Council does not recommend specific heritage consultants, however if you wish to undertake heritage works on your property, the NSW Department of Planning and Environment maintains a directory. The directory is free to use and allows you to search for a specific skill or trade within a specific region i.e., Greater Sydney metropolitan area.
Council has a range of resources to assist you with finding out more about a property, a place or family members that may have lived within CBCity. Some of the services include:
- Each month at the Bankstown and Campsie Library and Knowledge Centres’, Council offers a local and family history drop-in session. Exact timings can be found on the local & family history web page.
- Speakers and tours to learn more about the history of the Canterbury-Bankstown area.
- Detailed family history collections that our family historians will be happy to help you explore.
- A collection of databases that can be searched to learn more about family members who may have lived in the area.
Council provides a Heritage Grant Fund for owners of heritage listed properties. Funding of up to $5,000 per property per financial year is available to assist with the conservation and or repair of these properties.
The funding round for 2025/2026 is now open and closes on Friday 16 May 2025 at 5pm. Council also writes to the owners of heritage listed properties advising of the exact dates that the funding round will open and close.
Section 5.1 of Council's heritage incentives policy provides details of how the fund operates, the types of projects that are and aren’t acceptable and how they are assessed. A copy of the policy can be accessed by using this link.
To apply for funding during this round, please complete and submit the online application form here.
Please note, this is only an application and does not mean that the funding will be granted.
Click here to find out which properties in the Canterbury-Bankstown area are heritage listed.