The following information is provided to assist you and your communities with what you need to know to repair and rebuild, and details of grants that may be available.
Cultural and Heritage Asset Clean-up and Repair Grant Program
Applications can now be made through the SmartyGrants online portal, which also contains Guidelines and FAQs.
The Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements provide grants of up to $20,000 for eligible owners and operators of heritage places damaged as a result of Tropical Cyclone Seroja.
This grants program is jointly funded under the Commonwealth/State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements to support the clean-up and repair of eligible local and State heritage places including any identified Aboriginal Heritage place. For more information on this recovery assistance please contact the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage at heritagesupport@dplh.wa.gov.au or telephone (08) 6551 9993.
Who can I contact at the Department?
We have established a singular point of contact for all cyclone related enquiries and will seek to respond to your enquiries as soon as possible.
Should you have any questions or wish to discuss your specific circumstances, please be in contact with Tim Reed (A/Planning Manager) at disasterresponse@dplh.wa.gov.au or (08) 6551 9452 who is coordinating our response.
Do I need planning approval to rebuild?
Generally, no (unless your building is a heritage protected place), however this is dependent upon a number of factors, such as the local government and type of development you are proposing. Your local government is generally best placed to advise of their local planning requirements.
If you'd like to discuss this further, please be in contact with us or your local government.
Heritage impacts
Many of the impacted communities contain both local and State Registered Heritage Places that may have been damaged or destroyed by the cyclone.
If you are an owner of a State Registered Heritage Place affected, or if you are aware of any impacts to any of our heritage places including Aboriginal sites, or historic archaeological sites, please contact us.
Your local government is the primary point of call for locally significant heritage places but please contact us if you need support in obtaining local contacts or general heritage advice.
How do I know if my property is heritage listed?
The inHerit database can be accessed at following address http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Public/
The database contains a number of different lists that your property may be on including:
- State Register of Heritage Places
- Local Heritage List
- Local Heritage Survey
- National Trust Classification
Where can I find a heritage advisor, structural engineer or trades person?
The Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage also has a directory of heritage specialists called inContact, which is available on the website: incontact.stateheritage.wa.gov.au.
inContact lists structural engineers who have particular experience dealing with heritage places.
Information guides:
