The Property Council has provided a submission to the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee on the Queensland Heritage and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014.
In line with our previous submission to the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection the submission supports amendments which protect the owners of heritage places, and provide greater certainty within the heritage register nomination process. These include:
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A five year moratorium on applications for places being remade after a place has been considered for entrance into the heritage register
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An increase to the scope of works allowed under an exemption certificate
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The inclusion of a destroyed place recommendation.
However, the Property Council does hold a number of concerns with the amendments, including:
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Failing to protect owners of a heritage place from egregious nominations by requiring the nominator’s name be disclosed
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Expansion of the scope of the essential repair and maintenance notice provision with no course of appeal
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Failing to reduce duplication between various heritage registers.
The Bill is currently before the Transport, Housing and Local Government Committee and is expected to be tabled on 22 October.
Submissions on the Bill can be found here.