Council hall stall

By Tania Martin
BELGRAVE’S St Thomas More’s Primary School and Church committee has slammed a move to heritage list a decrepit, rat and asbestos infested hall.
Parish committee president Andrew Peterson last Tuesday (22 September) called for the Shire of Yarra Ranges to reconsider its decision.
This follows a decision on 8 September to include the hall in an interim heritage overlay.
The council has since sent the proposed interim overlay to Minister for Planning Justin Madden for approval.
Mr Peterson said the hall, which is situated at St Thomas More’s Primary School, Reynolds Lane, had been earmarked for demolition. He said the school had been planning to use the area as a grassed sporting oval.
Mr Peterson said the decision to list the hall had been flawed.
“The building is decrepit, rat-infested, has asbestos,” he said.
“We had a report done four years ago to renovate it and found it would cost $250,000 but we decided there was no way we could spend that much.”
Mr Peterson said the notice given to the church of the impending overlay had also been ‘grossly inadequate’.
He said they had not received the notice in time to object to the council’s decision.
Mr Peterson said the 1920 building had been significantly changed over the past 89 years.
The church has applied to have the hall demolished as part of a redevelopment of the school.
“At no stage and still to this day have we been told that this has been refused,” he said.
Mr Peterson said the school currently had no grassed area for students to play on and had been granted $85,000 under the Rudd Government’s stimulus package.
“For the first time ever the 200-odd kids at our school have the potential to have a play area on grass,” he said.
Monbulk MP James Merlino said it was concerning there appeared to be little consultation over the matter.
“This is not a useable building in any sense of the word and is very different from when it was originally built,” he said.
“Putting this up as a road block at the last minute is not appropriate.”
But shire spokesman James Martin said the school had been notified of the heritage potential in 2000 following a study recommending its inclusion.
Mr Martin said the listing of the hall had also been supported by the local historical society.
“Staff have had several discussions with the school about the significance of the hall,” he said. “A permit has been issued to construct classrooms and a multi-purpose hall at the school.”
But Mr Peterson said the demolition of the hall had always been a part of that proposal.
“At no time has the council approved the demolition of Austral Hall,” Mr Martin said.
Mr Martin said the school had recently indicated its interest in constructing an oval where the hall is located. However he said the shire had requested the application of an interim heritage overlay to provide an opportunity for the historic merits of the building to be assessed prior to any possible demolition being undertaken.
“This does not prevent the school from applying to the council to demolish the building,” Mr Martin said.
Mr Merlino has also called for Mr Madden to assess the situation and have the hall removed from the overlay.