Perth, Western Australia 23, 2003 Home News Down South Impressions This Week Exhibitions Theatre Restaurants Music Letters Classifieds Search Submit Real Estate Trades & Services Online Archives Edition List Search AboutUs Contact Us About Us Legal Production Rate Card Readership &  Distribution Subscribe	Rush to demolish 10 village homes A Games Village original at Norbury Crescent, City Beach, due for demolition... no Herb Ellior smalls in sight. The owners of 10 properties in the former Empire Games village have applied to Cambridge to demolish their homes. Their applications are part of what has been described as a wave of panic following a call to heritage list the village area, in City Beach. "It is ridiculous; I know one couple are doing it years before they had intended to," councillor Hilary Pinerua said. "I think people are being hasty, they are worrying too much - but I can understand it." The demolition licence applications have been lodged with Cambridge council over the past five weeks. The Heritage Council is due to meet on September 19 to decide if it will consider the area as a precinct suitable for listing on the state register. Cambridge mayor Marlene Anderton said Heritage Council officials told her a heritage architect was looking at the area now and documentation was being examined to see if it was worth considering the area for listing. She said they told her a report would be put to the Heritage Council on September 19. Under building regulations, a property owner must apply for a licence before demolishing a building. Health regulations set the standard for things like rat baiting before demolition can be done. Planning permission is not needed unless the building is on the State heritage register or an order has been made under the Heritage Act. Once issued, a demolition licence is valid for 12 months. Mrs Pinerua who has led a residents' campaign against heritage listing the village area, said people were worried about the impact on the value of their property. "It is very different from an Edwardian house in Subiaco," she said. "There is a difference between nostalgia and heritage. "I had one letter from a man who said there were not coachloads of tourists driving past his home in the hope of spotting the Hill's hoist where Herb Elliott hung his smalls during the Games. "He said he had restored another property in Inglewood and had asked the Heritage Council to list that one, but could not see any heritage value in the property in City Beach. "We are talking about land values in here, and if all you own is $600,000 worth of land you are going to be really worried about something that you think might reduce that value." BACK TO TOP < PREVIOUS - HOME - NEXT> Copyright © 1999 - 2006 Post Newspapers Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.