Hut owners happy about lack of heritage value

NISSEN huts built in Belmont North in 1951 to house British migrant workers will not receive a local heritage listing, but a state heritage listing is possible. Lake Macquarie City councillors voted 10-2 last night to scrap plans to make the huts a heritage conservation area under council law.Thirty-one Nissen huts remain of the original 50 huts that were known as "pommy town".Many hut owners opposed heritage-listing, asserting it would restrict and increase the cost of renovations and decrease property values.Cr Kay Fraser moved against the council staff's recommendation to proceed with plans to heritage-list the huts.Cr Fraser said people had experienced problems insuring the huts and getting loans from banks to improve them. "This has been dragging on for too long," she said. "Residents have expressed concern over a number of years. A lot of the huts are dilapidated and unable to be repaired." Cr Fraser said it was time to "let residents do what they want with the huts". The majority of councillors agreed, but resolved to heritage-list one of the huts, which the Historic Houses Trust had bought.Further, a visual and oral history of the huts will be made.Cr Hannah Gissane supported heritage-listing the huts, saying they were important to Lake Macquarie's history.The residents' battle is not over, with the NSW Heritage Council considering a nomination to list the huts on the state heritage register. A council report said the NSW Department of Planning's heritage branch had encouraged the council to give the huts local heritage significance. The heritage branch believed the huts had potential state heritage significance.Council staff had prepared flexible plans to allow alterations and additions to the huts within a heritage listing.Meanwhile, the council approved last night an incentive plan for owners of heritage buildings.Development application fees would be waived for heritage-listed properties and fees reduced by 50 per cent for potential heritage items.