The historic St Bathans Post Office building. Photo by
Lynda Van Kempen.
Plans for boutique accommodation to be provided in the
historic St Bathans Post Office building have raised the ire of
the village's heritage and environment preservation trust.
James Cameron, of Christchurch, has applied to the Department
of Conservation for a 10-year concession to use the
Doc-managed building as accommodation, catering for up to
seven people.
Doc had advertised for proposals from people wanting to use
the building.
No decision has been made yet on the application. A
provisional decision is expected soon and it will be
advertised for public submissions.
At its meeting in Cromwell yesterday, the Otago Conservation
Board confirmed its stance on the concession and also
received a letter on the subject from the St Bathans Heritage
and Environment Preservation Trust.
"The board believed that the overall concept of the proposal
is good and that the St Bathans Post office building would
benefit from use and careful renovation that retained its
historic values," board community relations office Mark Clark
said.
It was important that the current layout and old fixtures
were retained, he said.
The ground floor seemed better suited for retail use -
similar to the "Despatches" business the late Sharon Hinds
ran in the building.
"It has retained an authentic old 'post office' ambience and
it would be a shame to lose this. Such use would also enable
the public to get more enjoyment from visiting the site."
St Bathans trust chairman Rob Duffy said the group had
concerns about the proposed concession and wanted to ensure
the public retained access to the downstairs section of the
building.
The post office was sold to the Department of Lands and
Survey on the understanding it would be preserved and open to
the public.
"The proposed concession flies in the face of that
intention," Mr Duffy said in a letter to the Otago Southland
area manager of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Owen
Graham, which he copied to the board.
Ten years was a long time to "lock the public out", he said,
and he sought an assurance that the downstairs of the
building would remain intact and accessible to the public.
"We think there is a great opportunity here to preserve and
restore in order to provide for the public an experience of
history coming alive. The proposed concession would totally
jeopardise any such project in the future."
In his application, Mr Cameron said that, as a builder, he
had undertaken major historic projects here and in England
that had involved working sympathetically with the historical
fabric to achieve a quality result that retained building
character.
He planned to modify the interior of the building, he said.
Conservation work has just been carried out on the exterior
of the post office.
- lynda.van.kempen@odt.co.nz
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