The project was to come to a head at Wednesday night's council meeting, with central ward councillor Samantha McIntosh pushing a motion for council to rescind the tender for the project, which was awarded at last month's meeting, and look into alternative options for lighting the lake.

The interim protection order temporarily places Lake Wendouree on the Victorian Heritage Register, making it subject to heritage permit provisions of the Heritage Act, forcing any active works to pause immediately.

According to communications forwarded to The Courier, the regulatory committee of the Heritage Council of Victoria believes the lake has a prima facie case for inclusion on the Victorian Heritage Register.

"The Committee has carefully considered written material provided to it, including information provided by the two IPO requestors and also by the City of Ballarat and Heritage Victoria, and has formed the view that the above place may have a prima facie case for inclusion in the Register," the communication said.

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"The Committee has carefully considered written material and documentation provided to it by the abovementioned parties and has formed the view that there is evidence of an immediate or imminent threat to the above place that may detrimentally affect its cultural heritage significance, represented by works proposed to occur at the above place. The proposed works include the construction of lighting to the perimeter of Lake Wendouree."

According to the Heritage Council of Victoria website, interim protection orders can be made by either the Heritage Council or the executive director of Heritage Victoria to protect places or objects that may be of 'state-level cultural heritage significance and are under immediate or imminent threat'.

During the period of the order, the place or object is deemed to be included on the heritage register and receives protection under the Heritage Act 2017 while it is being assessed for permanent inclusion on the register by the Heritage Council of Victoria.

As part of the IPO process, Heritage Victoria is required to undertake an assessment of the lake and make a recommendation to the Heritage Council within 60 days on whether or not it should be included on the heritage register.

The lake lighting project was separately awarded a heritage permit by Heritage Victoria in September last year for the portion of the project that runs through the Ballarat Botanical Gardens, which are included on the heritage register.

The permit was awarded after Heritage Victoria found the works would not detrimentally affect the cultural heritage significance of the place and would approve amenity and safety for lake users.

Ballarat mayor Daniel Moloney said the lake lighting project would be paused while the order is in place, but council was still looking into potential effects the order could have on other works around the lake.

"It's not clear to us whether it has any impact on events, we're hoping it doesn't and we're quietly confident it won't, but we need to get some clarity around that," he said.

"We're also not clear on what impact it'll have on maintenance around the lake as well, such as basic tree pruning, path repair, that type of activity, we are hoping that we can continue that type of work, but again, it's not clear.

"We're also making some enquiries around the degree of the boundaries that apply as well, so it's not clear whether there's impacts where the tram works are proposed. The plan was to do some tram track work replacements over the Easter period, but we're not sure if that can go ahead at this stage."

Cr Moloney said council would also need to communicate with boatshed owners, rowing clubs and other groups to make clear that no works can take place without Heritage Victoria approval, which requires them to pay for a heritage permit.

"For instance, as of now with this order being in place, anyone who wanted to do works on their boatshed will now need to effectively go through a permit process until the IPO is assessed. You basically treat it as if it's already protected, even though it might not be down the track, we don't know," he said.

"We'll need to notify all of the boatshed owners and a couple cafes as well that will be affected, including, for instance, the Boatshed, who have a permit application underway to extend their boatshed, that'll have to pause. Any works in the area will need to pause.

"All the boat clubs on the lake and shed owners would need to get a heritage permit where currently they don't."

Last month, council voted six to three in favour of awarding the contract for the project to Bendigo-based De Araugo and Lea Electrical Contractors.

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The project will see 225 five-metre-tall light poles installed around the six-kilometre Steve Moneghetti Track to allow for greater usage of the lake in the mornings and evenings, particularly for those using the track for running and walking.

The project was first identified as a priority for council in the Lake Wendouree Master Plan which was endorsed by council in 2015. Consultation as part of the master plan's development showed that 81.7 per cent of 1800 respondents were in favour of lighting the lake.

The project also received bipartisan support during the 2018 state election campaign, with both Labor and the Liberal-Nationals coalition committing to funding the lake lighting.

Several options for installing the lighting were considered as during the development of the project, with the poles chosen as the ideal solution.

Council officers have said a bollard lighting system would require three times as many lights, be significantly more expensive and attract more vandalism, while in-ground lights would not meet Australian standards.

Cr Moloney said the IPO would also be costly to council as it prepares to make a submission to the process.

"While there's a pause of this project, we'll still need to go through a process of figuring out our response to the IPO and it could be costly in terms of people and budget. These are quite detailed processes to go through," he said.

"It's disappointing to have to go through this, I'd rather us be putting our very limited planning resources into housing strategies and a whole range of other really important work, but there'll be, unfortunately, a bit of a distraction for a while as we work our way through this IPO.

"We're trying to get an assessment of what the cost will be to council, it won't be cheap, but beyond that, we'll need to figure out what the cost is because there'll be some significant requirements on us to respond to the IPO and put planning resources into either supporting it or arguing against it. We don't currently have a position on it but either way, it's going to take planning resources."

In a statement, Heritage Victoria executive director Steven Avery said all works around the lake will now need a permit.

"While an interim protection order is in place, approvals must be obtained from Heritage Victoria for any works or activities at Lake Wendouree," he said.

"The interim protection order issued by the Heritage Council does not impact the permit for the Botanic Gardens issued by Heritage Victoria for the lighting project."

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