1215 heritage listings in 5 years; councils accused of ‘weaponising’ laws to block housing

Road gutters, a horse trough and a 26m tall yellow dinosaur are some of the most unusual sites to be granted heritage protection in NSW as local councils prepare to list dozens more.

Local councils are being accused of using heritage protection laws to sidestep their responsibility in providing new housing, as figures reveal more than 1000 sites have been added to heritage registers in the space of just five years,

Road gutters, a horse trough and a 26m tall yellow dinosaur are some of the most unusual sites to be granted recent heritage status in NSW, as local councils prepare to list dozens more, including an Oxford St nightclub, unassuming resident bungalows, and a “brutalist” northern beaches office block.

While some heritage listings have included well-known sites such as the historic Hayden Orpheum Cinema in Cremorne, other recent listings have raised eyebrows.

This includes a section of kerb and guttering in Maclean, a row of street trees in Concord, a horse trough in the Blue Mountains, a wooden toilet block at Hardy’s Bay on the Central Coast and the Ploddy the Dinosaur roadside attraction near the Australian Reptile Park.

Also proposed to be bestowed with heritage protection is the brutalist concrete Dee Why civic centre which Northern Beaches mayor Sue Heins has conceded was “loathed” by many residents in the region.

The Dee Why Civic Centre is in line for heritage protection.

Ploddy the Dinosaur is now a heritage-listed item.

In the past five years, the City of Sydney has had the most number of new heritage sites listed for any Sydney council with 47 new listings, followed by Inner West (23 listings), Woollahra (18 listings), Canterbury-Bankstown (15 listings) and Ku-ring-gai (seven listings).

Ku-ring-gai Council last year unsuccessfully tried to have swathes of land around train stations protected by heritage orders to block new planning laws aimed at turbocharging density near transport links.

City of Sydney Council is also facing resistance over plans to have heritage protection applied to a list of “retro” residential flat buildings which some residents have labelled “ugly”.

The buildings include the 1950s era Ithaca Gardens block in Elizabeth Bay and the “The Tor” residential tower in Rushcutters Bay.

Jim Carroll, who serves as the strata chair for the Ithaca Gardens tower, has hit out at the council’s plan to protect the building, which he said has undergone major internal works and therefore may not warrant heritage status.

“Ithaca Gardens is not a museum or a place of worship – it’s home to more than 60 people,” he said.

“The overwhelming number of owners fear it will impose time delays, cost and unnecessary constraints curtailing the rights of those who own units.”

The Oxford Hotel is proposed to be heritage listed by the City of Sydney.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the City of Sydney Council also wants to list multiple buildings along Oxford St as part of new ‘LGBTIQA+ heritage’ listings, including the Oxford Hotel in Darlinghurst, the Bookshop Darlinghurst, and Universal nightclub.

Various sites in Chinatown are also proposed to be heritage listed by the council, including the former Sydney headquarters of the Chinese Nationalist Party.

Parramatta Council is meanwhile planning to undertake a major heritage review early next year which will consider creating new heritage conservation areas.

A photo of the heritage-protected guttering in Maclean

The AMP Building overlooking Circular Quay has been heritage listed.

Sydney YIMBY — an organisation which advocates for more housing in Sydney — said many of the recent sites listed were “unremarkable”. The group has accused some councils of using heritage protection as a means of holding up new housing growth.

“Heritage listings should be used to preserve something unique as opposed to entire streets, especially those close to the city,” Sydney YIMBY co-founder Melissa Neighbour said.

“Councils need to be providing for the housing needs of today, not providing outdoor museums that only rich people can afford to go to.”

The Ithaca Gardens building in Elizabeth Bay.

Melissa Neighbour of Sydney YIMBY. Picture: Tim Pascoe

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully said “councils should not be using heritage to avoid their responsibility to increase housing supply.”

“Each local government area was recently assigned a housing target and if they want to protect one area for its character, then they must find another location in their council area to meet their housing target,” he said.

Cheryl Bates, a Sydney branch president of the National Trust, said heritage protection was “vital” to preserve the city’s history — particularly in densely populated and rapidly changing areas such as Parramatta.

“We need to be respectful of heritage because it’s a significant part of our story and once we lose those buildings they’re gone forever,” she said.

“Some of the heritage in Parramatta is over 200 years old and there’s already been some terrible destruction of history as well as heritage sites that are now overshadowed by huge tower blocks.”

A heritage-listed home in Dulwich Hill.

The MLC building in North Sydney has been named a heritage protected item

Property Council of Australia NSW executive director Katie Stevenson believes heritage laws need to be balanced with current housing demands.

“It’s important that high-quality buildings are protected, but we can’t afford to lock out swathes of community, particularly through listing heritage conservation areas, which can prevent the housing we need for the community now,” she said.

Other buildings to be awarded heritage protection status over the last two years include the AMP commercial tower in Circular Quay and the MLC building in North Sydney which some residents have described as “brutalist” and “ugly”.