19 March 2008
The NSW Governments expert review of the heritage laws will be a relief to home owners concerned about the forced heritage listing of their property, according to the Urban Taskforce.
Many of the 25,000 properties that have been placed on local heritage lists should never have been included. In October last year, efforts by Parramatta Council to heritage list up to 12 ordinary 1960s and 1970s homes in Toongabbie and Epping were exposed.
This was only the latest example of cheaply built project homes being elevated to ˜heritage status by local councils.
Home owners of heritage listed properties face the devaluation of their property by tens of thousands of dollars.
Theyre also burdened by new restrictions meaning it is extremely expensive, if not impossible, to undertake even minor renovations such as modifying the kitchen, changing internal walls, or installing a pay TV aerial.
Local heritage listings dont just affect the listed property they can affect neighbours too.
Once a single property in a street is heritage listed, neighbouring properties can be blocked from making changes to their homes that alter the streetscape.
Low-impact development proposals like the expansion of local schools are routinely held up by phony claims of ˜heritage.
We welcome the panels proposal for new rules to guide the heritage listing process.
We also are pleased the owners of heritage properties would be able to benefit from some of the standard exemptions from planning rules enjoyed by other home owners.
This reform will make life easier for home owners living in heritage listed properties.
The community will back these sensible changes and the government should move to implement them as soon as possible.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
The NSW development industrys annual turnover is $35 billion and employs 180,000 people, accounting for six percent of the States total employment. It is the fifth largest contributor to the State economy.
