Ballarat councillors move ahead with Bridge Mall changes

The City of Ballarat council voted to seek approval from the planning minister for an amendment in the Ballarat Planning Scheme for the Bridge Mall area, including changing how tall new buildings could be.

Ballarat Heritage Watch president Stuart Kelly said this decision had "the potential to open the way for a fundamental change to the whole nature of this area".

"It's an irreversible change to one of the most historic parts of Ballarat," he said.

This includes changing current height restrictions which are a limit of 10.5 metres on the south side and 8.7 on the north side.

The area would be broken down into three sub-areas with different maximum heights, with the Bridge Mall Gateway have a maximum preferred height of 24 metres.

Mr Kelly said his group took issue with changing the term from mandatory to preferred maximum, saying it provided "little protection against excessive height".

Council officers have said this limitation was "impractical from a planning and urban design perspective, as they effectively prohibit most forms of development".

Mr Kelly said the Heritage Watch also opposed the concept of upper level setbacks which might lead to "stepped pyramid type buildings".

The 46 public submissions were divided with negative and positive responses, focusing on height and heritage.

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Councillors were also divided but accepted help was needed for the future of the area.

Cr Ben Taylor said Bridge Mall did not meet the standards of Ballarat CBD.

"We have that beauty and heritage but it also brings attention to what we also have in Bridge Mall, which is not beauty and pretty ugly, especially the Norwich Plaza building," he said.

Cr Taylor said the council could start the process to change that and provide guidance on development in the area and bring "vibrancy" to Bridge Mall.

Cr Daniel Moloney said it wasn't sustainable to continue to knock back opportunities that "go up" because it meant "we have to go out."

"You create a schooling problem, you create disconnected communities, and then eventually council's realised too late the need to go up somewhere," he said, adding balance needed to be found.

The council has also reviewed the heritage significance within the precinct, which resulted in a revised Statement of Significance for the Bridge Mall and Bakery Hill Precinct.

Once the minister has authorised the council's proposal, the amendment will be exhibited before most likely going to a planning panel to consider submissions.

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