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1. Why are people being allowed to pull these beautiful houses down and erect ugly apartment blocks. We have that problem here in Dandenong where every lovely old house is torn down within days of being sold. That is a stunning property from the 1880's and deserves to be kept as it is without some Chinese company ripping it down. It won't be long before Melbourne starts looking like some horrible multi story ghetto

2. How on Earth does a private surveyor get to issue a demolition permit, without any review or approval by council? What sort of governance process (or lack thereof) allows that to occur?

   The people of Stonnington elected the Council to protect the interests and heritage of Stonnington and yet, some private surveyor has the power to issue demolition permits, without any scrutiny or Council approval?

   City of Stonnington Chief Executive, Warren Roberts claims that the property does not qualify for “individual” heritage protection but a 1992 study found that the property “would make an architectural or historical contribution within a broader heritage precinct rather than being of individual significance”.

   The Council and Major do not seem to care about protecting the overall integrity, amenity or beauty of the area. Unless the house meets the narrow criteria for heritage protection, then it’s not worth protecting.

   Unless Captain Cook, or someone significant lived there, or it has some unique architectural feature, then it doesn’t qualify and doesn’t matter.

   Where is the Council’s planning strategy for protecting our broader area, Armadale or the Stonnington Municipality? Stonnington’s heritage properties (Victorian, Federation, Edwardian) are large part of what make it a beautiful and unique area.

   The absence of a planning strategy by the Council to protect the overall integrity of the municipality means that, apart from the 58 properties in the whole of Stonnington, (that meet the narrow qualification criteria for protection), then there is nothing to prevent these beautiful heritage homes being torn down one by one. Soon our residential streets will become full of apartment blocks, rather than beautiful heritage homes.

   We could potentially end up with only 58 heritage protected properties and a suburb full of ugly, rubbish buildings!!! (I know that is taking it to the extreme but that is what could and will happen to a large extent).

   I received a letter from Jane Homewood, Executive Director Statutory Planning Services, on behalf of the Minister for Planning; “Stonnington City Council is the responsible authority under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 for the administration of the local planning scheme”. Yet the Mayor, Steve Stefanopoulos, claims there is nothing that the Council can do.

   The Mayor and several councillors were elected based on their campaigns claiming they are concerned about our heritage. Yet they are not willing to even try and save this
   property; they just wash their hands of it and say there is nothing they can do.

   The Stonnington Council has been absent in allowing this demolition permit to be issued and are still absent in doing anything about it and fulfilling the election promises they made.

3. I am asking the same questions as Shane Rumble, particularly how a private surveyor can issue a demolition permit without approval by Council!!! I know the Mayor cares deeply about retaining the historical and architectural essence of the Stonnington precinct and yet we hear that even he is helpless in this situation. This is a crazy situation., The whole of Stonnington is being adversely affected by soulless and money-grabbing overdevelopment. What can be done before we have nothing left but street after street of sameness?

4. The Kennett Government privatised building surveyors even to the extent that a private building surveyor in a country town can (and it's happened) issue a demolition order for a house in Melbourne when he/she has never even seen the house.

   No State Government since then has made an attempt to get the industry back into Council hands.

5. Very sad to Se this demolished today. I can't believe such a stately historic home could be approved for demolition? What a loss.

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