Extract from Email update sent from GladesvilleCommunity.com on 5 December 2013

Many of you will have heard a member of our group, Justin, speak about the timber cottage at 10 Cowell St, at previous meetings. He has provided this updated timeline to help explain this history of the timber cottage not being Heritage listed, against the views of Paul Davies who was engaged by Council to undertake a review, as well as The Hunters Hill Trust, and other organisations and experts who are interested in the preservation of items of Heritage significance.

In short, the expert engaged by the Council to review and make recommendations on Heritage listing of assets in the municipality did recommend that 10 Cowell Street be upgraded to a Heritage Listing. In the draft LEP which the Council publicly exhibited, 10 Cowell St was included as an item of local heritage importance, and given heritage listing under Schedule 5. However, when it came time to adopt the LEP, the Council removed the listing on the property, making it easy for a developer to demolish it and extend a shopping centre right across the site. When questioned council said they hadn't had enough time to review all of Paul Davies recommendations at that time, and that this property, along with others, would be reviewed subsequently. No review was undertaken since these events in 2012 prior to the lodgement of this DA, but it is in progress now and we expect the Council to find, contrary to the Davies report and The Hunters Hill Trust recommendations, that the property does not warrant listing. The Council has negotiated a deal, the details of which remain secret, which allow the developer to buy this property from the Council.

It is important to note that during the council meeting back on 11th June 2002, the council defended the restoration project then undertaken by the council on 10 Cowell St. In the Report of General Manager, the council’s General Manager at the time (Barry Smith) is quoted as saying “…Council can now justifiably point to its own work as an example of what can be achieved in heritage and conservation building works”.

For all images / files below, you can scroll within the window, or click "pop out" in the top right corner when you hover the cursor over the image then right-click to save (download).

This timeline is a helpful snapshot of key events

If you have any questions, comments, corrections, or would like to provide information about Hunters Hill Council's management of this asset, or similar topics, please email heritage@gladesvillecommunity.com