Anger as heritage cottage is bulldozed

ROTTING ...

GOING ...

GONE.

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Wellington

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Two homeowners in Mt Victoria have caused an outcry after Wellington City Council allowed the demolition of their old cottage.

Their Brougham St worker's cottage, built in the 1880s, was so rotten that it was classed a hazard to builders and the owners received advice that it would be cheaper to start again.

The Mt Victoria Residents Association lodged strong opposition with the council despite the owners - Matthew Heaphy and Andrew Bowman - agreeing to build a replica of the old cottage.

The owners started a blog called Building Madness in Mt Victoria, which chronicled their frustrations with the residents' association and a costly nine- month battle for resource consent - which sparked a tit-for-tat war of words with the association.

"They [the residents association] had a particular position that no house should ever be knocked down. That doesn't seem to take account of the fact that the house was rotten. It's not like we're building a glass box," Mr Bowman said.

Mr Bowman and Mr Heaphy had wanted to rebuild the cottage further back on the section and add two car parks, but baulked when the council threatened to make them undergo a $20,000, fully notified consent process.

One post on their blog illustrated their frustration on demolition day: "Old matrons in Mt Victoria seem to think that they have the right to tell everyone how they will live, and what they'll do to their house. One of them came over to talk about the 'vandalism' of the neighbourhood."

Council spokesman Richard MacLean said the council wanted to avoid demolition of pre-1930s buildings in Mt Victoria but "in this case the owners made a compelling case that this building was rotten and not worth saving". The council had wanted the new building to match the other workers' cottages in the street and made that clear in negotiations.

Resource consent is required to demolish a pre-1930s house in Mt Victoria and, under the area's planning rules, the association has to be consulted by the council when someone lodges an application.

Residents' association vice-president Kent Duston said the association's position was clearly against the demolition of pre-1930s buildings.

He said some of the personal comments had been regrettable but since comments were removed from his website and the owners' blog, the situation had calmed down.

"It's a pity it's got so acrimonious because sooner or later many of the people that have been commenting back and forth still need to live in the same neighbourhood."

But the owners had received many messages of support and said they were still looking forward to moving to Mt Victoria.

"It's certainly taken the gloss off what should have been a really exciting process," Mr Bowman said. "But I don't think there'll be any ill feeling. Most people will like it."

- © Fairfax NZ News