Dangerous and/or Insanitary Buildings Policy Amendment

Submissions for this consultation are now closed.

We are proposing to amend our Dangerous and/or Insanitary Buildings Policy to protect our heritage buildings.

Our existing policy allows the Council to identify and manage dangerous, affected, and insanitary buildings in the District so people can safely use them without endangering their health.

The policy sets out our responsibilities under the Building Act 2004 and ensures that when dangerous or affected buildings are identified, the danger is appropriately reduced. Similarly, if insanitary conditions are found, appropriate and timely remedial measures are undertaken.

What's Proposed

We propose to add a section to our existing policy that says if a listed heritage building is deemed to be dangerous or insanitary, our staff will:

• Work to ensure maintenance work is carried out on the building, with public safety being the focus.
• Discuss possible solutions with the property owner to ensure a mutually acceptable solution that meets heritage objectives and Building Act requirements. Any remediation work should protect the heritage values of the building.

What's a heritage building?

The Building Act 2004 defines a heritage building as 'a building that is included on the New Zealand Heritage List / Rārangi Kōrero'. Notably, this excludes most buildings listed on the Heritage Structures Schedule in our current District Plan.

Some of the buildings listed on the New Zealand Heritage List are important to Gore’s regional identity.

• Category 1 buildings: Fleming’s Creamoata Mill complex and the Willowbank Railway Windmill and Water Tank.
• Category 2 buildings: Mataura Railway Station, the former Bank of New Zealand and Clematis Cottage, both in Mataura, and the Gore Presbyterian Church.

What you can do

Heritage buildings are part of what makes Gore the place it is. We want to know whether our proposed amendment goes far enough in protecting these buildings and our historical identity.

Submissions are open until 5:00pm Friday 13 October. Submitting is as easy as clicking on our online submission form below. Please note that your name and submission will be publicly available.

Alternatively, you can download a hard copy of the submission form and:

• Email to: info@goredc.govt.nz
• Drop off: Main office, 29 Bowler Avenue, Gore or the Mataura Service Centre/Library
• Post: Gore District Council, P O Box 8, Gore, 9740.

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