A petition against the removal of replica gas lamps in the Maitland Heritage Mall will be presented to Maitland City Council in protest of a multi-million dollar plan to redesign the mall.
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More than 200 people have signed the petition calling for council to leave the 41 handmade lamps – estimated to have cost between $6000 and $8000 each at the time of installation in 1988 – and reconsider the proposed plan.
Instigated by mall trader Bob Dennerley, the petition follows council’s two-week community consultation process on its plans to redevelop the mall.
“It would be ridiculous to remove them. They are expensive for one, and a very attractive addition to the mall,” Mr Dennerley said.
He also said that the recent consultation process – held in the mall – was not long enough.
“Quite often people don’t spend the time thinking about how something will impact on them until someone points it out to them,” he said.
“I don’t think the consultation period was long enough to give everyone the opportunity to have their say.”
Heritage conservationist Chris Richards has weighed into the debate saying the multi-million dollar plans are akin to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.
“The plans will mean tearing out all of the trees and removing the [replica] gas lights, which cost hundreds of thousand of dollars to make and were built from originals,” Mr Richards said.
“If these plans go ahead they will divide the city in half.
“We might as well build a big brick wall, like the Berlin Wall, right through the middle.
“All council is doing is moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic.
“They have not addressed the real problem as to why people aren’t coming to the mall.”
The concept for the design – tagged High Street Central – aims to combine Maitland’s heritage with a modern edge and is the result of an intensive consultation process between council and urban designers McGregor Coxall.
“There is obviously a problem because council wouldn’t spend $7 million if there wasn’t, but to pull out the millions of dollars worth of infrastructure – deemed at the time to be the best to compliment the buildings – and replace it with flying saucer pots is not appropriate,” Mr Richards said. “This is a Band-Aid approach and it’s a very expensive Band-Aid.
“I applaud the council for its interest in doing something but I really think they’ve put the cart before the horse. “
