The draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy will guide new development in Banyule, ensuring it respects and responds to the existing or preferred valued characteristics of an area. It will work alongside the draft Housing Strategy to allow Council to plan for and manage future housing growth, while also protecting neighbourhood character.

The draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy builds on what we heard during Stage 1 and Stage 2 community engagement in 2022 and 2023 including your priorities, how you live, future needs of the community and options to plan for our housing and neighbourhoods.

The draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy will work together with the draft Housing Strategy to guide new housing development.

Draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy

The draft Neighbourhood Character Strategy guides new development in residential areas, ensuring that it respects and responds to the existing or preferred characteristics of an area, whilst also meeting State Planning Policy targets for growth in housing supply and diversity.

Neighbourhood Character Areas

The draft Strategy identifies five main character areas. Within each character area there are one or more neighbourhood character precincts, each with their own unique qualities, attributes, objectives and design guidelines to provide guidance for future development.

Expand the tabs below to see a summary of the neighourhood character areas:

This area is characterised by a visually dominate tree canopy where dwellings are subservient to the native vegetation. Dwellings are set within a bush environment with native and indigenous high canopy trees and significant amounts of understorey vegetation.

There is one precinct in the Bush Garden character area. This precinct to split across three different areas.

View the character profile for the Bush Garden precinct:

  • Bush Garden East
  • Bush Garden South
  • Bush Garden West

This area maintains much of its open rural character with a variety of dwelling types set within significant vegetation. The area is characterised by informal streetscapes, large lots and the landscape dominated setting with remnant indigenous vegetation.

There are two precincts in the Bush Woodland character area. View the character profiles for the Bush Woodland 1 and 2 precincts here:


This area is characterised by 1960s-1990s development with low scale, generally brick dwellings with low-pitched tile roofs, set in spacious, informal garden settings.

There are three precincts in the Garden Court character area. The Garden Court 2 precinct is split across four areas. View the character profiles for the Garden Court 1, 2 and 3 precincts here:

This area has a spacious leafy character in generally formal garden settings. Important characteristics of the area are the scale, siting and architectural style of dwellings and their relationship with vegetation and the topography of the land.

There are six precincts in the Garden Suburban character area. View the character profiles for the Garden Suburban 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 5 precincts here:

This area is characterised by large native trees that provide a backdrop for mainly post war detached dwellings in mature garden settings. Important characteristics of this area are the canopy of indigenous and native trees and understorey planting that dominates the streetscape.

There are two precincts in the Urban Canopy character areas. View the profiles for the Urban Canopy 1 and 2 precincts here:

Property search

Enter your address on the map below to see which of the Strategy’s neighbourhood character area your address falls under.

Map legend

Legend of neighbourhood character areas

Frequently Asked Questions