Iona Pannett, Wellington Representative for Bloggers-Without-Paragraphs (BSP) has written a post in relation to the story about the demolition of the old Settlement Restaurant building on Willis Street.
She’s done a post on the heritage issued raised by the demolition…
Link above to the Council’s media release with me as spokesperson on the granting of consent to demolish the old Settlement Restaurant in Willis Street. I’m happy that the correct procedure was followed in terms of the consent. The wider question relates to how many buildings/sites/trees we list in Wellington. This is a complex question that I want to explore further over the next few years. My view is that we do need to protect more of our precious heritage. Questions do need to be answered however include how much we can afford to put into saving these items, what priority it takes in terms of other issues like leaky homes, supporting our cultural capital status and so on and where the balance lies between letting the city grow whilst leaving traces of our past.
She’s right, it’s a pretty complex issue, and I doubt her open-ended “we do need to protect more of our precious heritage” response will offend few. It will be interesting to see if she puts any effort into leading a debate on the rest of the issues she’s raised – someone needs to.
WCC Watch 
Leadership will definitely be shown on the issue of heritage. I have been a long term advocate for preserving our past in this city. Discussions will be held in the next week over how we can prioritise the listing of more buildings. The difficulty as always is paying for it.
But if we want to protect our buildings and historic sites, they must be protected well in advance of any bulldozers coming in.
Point taken re my non use of paragraphs in this case.
Nasty leaky buildings lacking in any style and taste whatsoever or heritage buildings? I know what I’d rather see pulled down!
I don’t know what the consent processes are, but surely any consent to demolish shouldn’t be issued before the council has seen the NZHPT report? Seems a bit backwards to notify the NZHPT after the consent has been given.