Redevelopment of the former Loreto College junior school was first approved at a Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal hearing in 2012.

Since that time however, only minor works have been completed as changes to the initial permit were requested for the site on Lyons Street North.

A spokesperson for the developer said works were on hold while the owner investigated selling the site, but the permit was still valid.

However council development and planning director Angelique Lush said the permit lapsed in last year, and a second permit was being considered.

“Several objections were lodged by neighbouring residents and therefore the application is currently in the third party appeal period to VCAT,” she said.

Plans approved in 2012 included a five-storey building for 34 apartments and a medical centre on the ground the floor.

A former music building was also to be converted into four apartments.

Up to 95 car parks were planned at ground and partially underground level, along with 28 bicycle spaces.

Opponents of the development said at the time it was disappointing a five-story plan was approved for a property at the edge of the CBD.

The vacant lot at the site was just one part of the former Loreto College campus redevelopment.

Thirty-four serviced apartments opened on the site’s Dawson Street side in 2010.

Ballarat City mayor Samantha McIntosh said the approved planning permit had gone through extensive consultation in 2012.

“It went through significant scrutiny, it came in and out of the council chamber and it took a period of time before it was approved,” she said.

“Everyone who looks at that site will have a different view of it. 

“There were certainly objectors, we sat with the objectors as councillors and they were able to contribute to it as part of that process.”

Maintaining heritage overlays as Ballarat’s population continues to soar will stay a priority of Ballarat City Council’s planning decisions.

More than 140,000 people were expected to call the municipality home by 2040.

However Ballarat City mayor Samantha McIntosh said that number could reach as high as 200,000.

Although large developments at the city’s west have added thousands of homes, Ballarat will also have to look at higher density living to accommodate new arrivals.

Currently there are several large pockets of land in the central business district, or at its edge, with pending planning permits before council.

One at the former Loreto College junior school was approved for 34 apartments in a five-storey building in 2012.

There were also plans for 90 medium density homes at the former Ballarat orphanage on Victoria Street, along with shopping and medical centres.

However construction at both sites has not yet gone ahead.

Cr McIntosh said there would have to be higher density living in the city’s centre, but new developments also had to be in line with Ballarat’s heritage overlays.

“We have an enormous growth pattern, that mimics that pattern we saw in the middle of the gold rush 150 years ago,” she said.

“Without any doubt - looking at the Mair Street proposal, looking at our CBD strategy – we have a significant piece of works.”

Taller buildings will be added to the CBD at the Civic Hall site, where the state government plans to move 600 jobs as part of its decentralisation plan. Mair Street will potentially be a high density development strip with greater height limits under council’s 2017-2021 plan.

Council chief executive Justine Linley and Cr McIntosh explored heritage at a World League of Historical Cities board meeting earlier this month.

Ms Linley said Bursa’s own heritage restoration programs and population growth could teach Ballarat how to approach the same issue.

“How do you go about training a workforce that is looking after centuries old mosques and public spaces?” she said.

“We also discussed with a range of heritage cities, the approaches for world heritage listing a region.

“The central goldfields have been talking about for more than a decade having the region heritage listed.”

Ballarat City Council’s strategy to protect buildings in heritage overlays has included the drafting of new local laws to penalise developers who allow buildings to fall into disrepair.

The new local laws will allow council to fine owners of buildings if they failed to keep them in good repair.

Ratepayers and heritage experts complained to council about the 5.2-hectare former Ballarat orphanage site in February and May.

A development for the site was planned, but the former school building, toddler’s block and a wall on Stawell Street were all protected under heritage overlays.

Now parts of the former orphanage are covered in graffiti and heavily vandalised.

Ballarat historian Anne Beggs-Sunter described the state of the buildings as “demolition by neglect” when she spoke with The Courier in February.

She said their deteriorating condition impacted all of Ballarat.

Council will enforce the law on dilapidated properties each month if breaches continue or if work has not been done to fix a breach.