Plan for old Beechworth jail land draws confusion after premature ad

A newspaper advertisement on Friday, September 8 heralding the application for a permit for a 24-lot subdivision for the land adjoining the jail was published a week before the intended date.

Confusion and frustration for bewildered Beechworth locals took hold when a search on the Heritage Victoria website quoting the application number drew a blank.

On Wednesday morning the agency posted details of the permit on its site.

A Heritage Victoria spokesperson said the permit application would be readvertised this Friday.

"As with all advertisements of permit applications, Heritage Victoria provides the text and the applicant places and pays for the advertisement," the spokesperson said. "In this case, there was an error and the advertisement was incorrectly placed in the newspaper before the scheduled advertisement date of September 15, 2023.

"The applicant will be readvertising the permit on September 15 for a period of two weeks."

Longtime Beechworth businesswoman Elizabeth Mason said she was dumbfounded at how such a historically valuable site would even be considered for a housing development.

"Developing a housing estate on Ned Kelly's jail land is like developing a bike track around Stonehenge," Ms Mason, who is a former president of the Beechworth History and Heritage Society, said.

"As I said on Facebook, it is calamitous. That site was where the granite was quarried to build the jail, then it was a dump so and was filled with rubbish from so long ago.

"So can you imagine as an archeological site it would be filled with discarded bottles and all sorts of items of incredible historical significance.

"I just can't believe this - if you want to build houses, don't build them right there at the heart of an incredibly historic jail - it's complete madness."

The Heritage Victoria spokesperson said: "We encourage the community to have their say when the application is readvertised.

"The planning permit for the former Beechworth Gaol Reformatory Reserve proposes a four-stage draft subdivision place into 19 residential allotments (stage 1) and three staged super lots.

"A planning permit was issued by the Indigo Shire and a heritage permit issued in 2007 to the owner and applicant. The heritage permit has expired and the applicant has reapplied."

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