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| Photo: This Millers Point house dating back to the 1820s is earmarked for sale by Housing NSW (ABC: John Donegan |
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Map: Millers Point 2000
The National Trust of Australia has slammed Housing NSW for selling Millers Point properties with no heritage protections.
"Of the nine test sales, three of them have stop-work orders on them which indicates protections aren't working," Director of Advocacy at the National Trust Of Australia, Graham Quint, told 702 ABC Sydney.
"The City of Sydney has issued the owners of two properties in Millers Point with notices to stop unapproved building works," a City of Sydney spokesperson said.
"The properties, at 30 Argyle Place and 119 Kent Street, are state heritage listed and approval must be obtained before works can proceed."
Mr Quint wants the State Government to stop the sales and instead, to consider offering the properties on 99-year leases.
"We want the Government to release the properties on 99-year leases, the properties won't sell for quite as much, but that puts extra protections in place," he said.
"Because they are selling them outright, there aren't those protections in place, but if you're not selling them outright you can put compliance bonds in place."
The City of Sydney (council) later confirmed only two properties had stop-work orders.
Mr Quint said the city council was effectively powerless to stop development on the heritage-registered properties — some dating back to the early 1800s.
"Even though they are on the state heritage register, if the current development control plan and zoning allows for fairly major increases in height it is very difficult for Sydney city council to object," he said.
Mr Quint is concerned not just for the individual properties, but believes the whole heritage precinct of Millers Point is under threat with 284 more properties in the suburb to be sold by the NSW Government.
"Effectively under the current zoning they can have a fairly major height addition on quite a few of the properties," he said.
An 1834 four-storey terrace at 29 Lower Fort St, Millers Point sold for $2.56 million in August 2014.
The Colonial Regency style property was offered for the first time in more than 100 years and was offered for sale with little heritage protection.
A 99-year lease on a similar property was offered by the government in 2008 and fetched $1.5 million.
The then housing minister David Borger said the property and 15 others were leased with strict maintenance provisions in the contract.
"A conservation management plan has been completed for all 16 properties for lease and it's actually a condition of the lease that the properties are restored and maintained to appropriate standard," he told 702 ABC Sydney at the time.
Hundreds of properties earmarked for sale
The 293 properties earmarked for sale are in Millers Point, Gloucester Street and The Rocks, including the Sirius building near the Sydney Harbour Bridge.More than 400 public housing tenants have been given two years to move.
"This is a two-year process that will begin with a meeting with each household to discuss their housing needs and where they might like to go," Planning Minister Pru Goward said.
Millers Point is arguably one of Australia's most remarkable historic urban places and, for Sydney, a unique jewel.Housing NSW
Ms Goward has said the money raised from the sale of the properties will go into other public housing projects.
Housing NSW's document entitled Millers Point Conservation Management Guidelines (CMG) said the heritage significance of the area and its conservation was the result of government ownership.
"Millers Point is arguably one of Australia's most remarkable historic urban places and, for Sydney, a unique jewel," the document states.
"Furthermore, a major contributor to the conservation of its heritage significance has been that, for most of the twentieth century, it was a government-owned precinct with a stable tenant population.
"This has not only contributed to conserving the historic fabric but endowed it with a community with strong bonds with the place."
The CMG document ranked Millers Point as a priceless asset.
"As such, it is intended to guide ... a common vision and objective of maintaining this unique place and its residential community as a priceless asset of the people of New South Wales and Australia," the document states.
The NSW Heritage Council had asked the city council to review the area's planning controls.
"The proposed changes to the controls will provide consistency and certainty for future homeowners in Millers Point, while further protecting the area's irreplaceable heritage," a City of Sydney spokesperson said.
"They are designed to protect these buildings as they move into private ownership."
The changes were supported by the Central Sydney Planning Committee — a joint City of Sydney and NSW Government planning body.
