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Aussie gov't demands developers rebuild historic pub they illegally demolished

Xinhua, October 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Victorian government is demanding that "cowboy" developers who demolished one of Melbourne's oldest buildings without a permit to rebuild the structure.

The 159-year-old Corkman Irish pub in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Carlton was demolished in mid-October despite a local council issuing workers on the site with a stop-work order.

Richard Wynne, Victoria's minister for planning, confirmed that both he and the City of Melbourne council would launch legal action against the developers of the site, Stefce Kutlesovski and Raman Shaqiri.

Wynne said he would take Kutlesovski and Shaqiri to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to compel the owners to rebuild in line with the "design, scale and layout" of the original building.

"It has been a wilful and illegal destruction of Victorian heritage which can't be tolerated," Wynne told the ABC on Thursday.

"It's clear that the developers have breached a number of their statutory responsibilities.

"I think the overwhelming evidence is that you have to, as a government, ensure that the planning framework that is in place in our state is respected.

"If you are not prepared to play by the planning rules, then there will be repercussions for that."

After the building was demolished, the developers were told they could not remove any debris from the site because it contained dangerous asbestos fibres.

However, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) discovered waste from the site on another site owned by the developers in Melbourne's western suburbs, a violation which will bring more fines on top of the penalties for demolishing the building.

Jamal Elhussein, who lives six doors down from where the rubble was dumped in the suburb of Cairnlea, said she was horrified by the prospect of her young children potentially being exposed to contaminated dust.

"My kids play here every day. It's upsetting. All my neighbors have little children as well," Elhussein told Fairfax Media in comments published on Thursday.

"Now, I am scared. It is not good for the kids or for ourselves.

"That's just disgusting, I am sure the (developers) have children and they wouldn't like this to happen in the area and next to their house." Endit