By JONATHON HOWARD
CAPTION: Plumbs Chambers, 82 Fitzroy St, left, could soon make way for an expanded loading dock to allow trucks greater access to the Rose City Shoppingworld.
REVALUATIONS that 82 Fitzroy St could soon become a driveway for trucks to unload has sent shockwaves through the Warwick community.
Known as Plumbs Chambers, 82 and 84 Fitzroy streets comprise a brick and timber building that dates back to the 1860s, and an 1874-75 stone building located next to the Warwick Police Station.
The buildings were listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1997, because of their importance in illustrating the transformation of Warwick in the late 1860s and 1870s from a squatters’ town, to Queensland’s most prosperous agricultural districts.
In September 2007, the owner of Rose City Shoppingworld, the McConaghy Group, applied under the IPA to demolish 82 Fitzroy Street and part of 84 Fitzroy Street (the rear service wing) to allow the extension of the shopping centre.
The application to demolish part of 84 Fitzroy St was quashed by a court ruling, but a State Government decision approved the demolition of 82 Fitzroy St in December last year.
The building at 84 Fitzroy Street was included in a list of local heritage places protected under the planning scheme, however, due to an inadvertent mistake by the local council, 82 Fitzroy Street was not listed.
This meant that under the planning scheme the demolition of 82 Fitzroy Street was code assessable while the demolition of 84 Fitzroy Street was impact assessable.
Under the planning scheme a material change of use (MCU) for a shopping centre over 4000 square meters is impact assessable but the MCU application never proceeded to public notification and has now lapsed.
The demolition application was publicly advertised as required under the IPA. Several objections were made based on the loss of cultural heritage.
The move now paves the way for the McConaghy Group to demolish 82 Fitzroy St to expand Rose City Shoppingworld and construct an expanded loading bay.
BREAK OUT
EIGHTY-TWO Fitzroy Street was in a state of disrepair according to Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) executive director Andrew Connor.
“EHP approved the building owners’ application to demolish 82 Fitzroy Street, as it was in a state of disrepair and required substantial replacement of original building materials,” Mr Connor said.
“This decision will result in a certain future of the site, deemed less salvageable than 84 Fitzroy Street, which is required to be preserved to a high level.”
To help assess the Plumbs Chambers application, Mr Connor said EHP sought third party advice from the Queensland Heritage Council, the National Trust of Queensland and the Southern Downs Regional Council.
“The Southern Downs Regional Council was notified in writing of the decision,” he said.
“There are no statutory requirements for EHP to inform a third party of the development assessment decision.”
The Free Times contacted McConaghy Group owner Robert McConaghy but he refused to comment.
