WAKOOL Shire Council has expressed an interest in removing the
heritage listing from the century-old Swan Hill bridge and plans to write to NSW
Minister for Heritage Robyn Parker with the request.
Councillors endorsed a
decision to co-write a letter with Swan Hill Rural City Council (pending the
approval of Swan Hill councillors) to the Office of Environment and Heritage to
discuss the “de-listing the Murray Downs/Swan Hill bridge whilst exploring
options for retaining heritage values”.
Removal from the heritage listing
would potentially open up options for a new bridge to be established in place of
the current crossing, but Swan Hill Rural City Council is yet to make a decision
on the proposal to write to the Minister.
Swan Hill mayor Les McPhee said
that while the heritage listing had come up in previous discussions on the
bridge, any decision to write to the NSW Minister would have to first be
considered at a council meeting.
“It’s something we may be considering, if
that can come off it may change everyone’s outlook on it,” he said.
“If the
heritage listing does come off that bridge, obviously it opens up new options
for a bridge.”
Wakool Shire mayor Andrew Douglas said if the NSW Office of
Environment and Heritage declined the proposal, it would end the conversation.
“If they can pull it out and hang on to the heritage value by placing it
somewhere else, that’s fine,” he said.
“If we all agree the [current] bridge
has got to stay, that option will be [off the table].”
Wakool Shire’s
decision was made during a discussion on the heritage de-listing of Tooleybuc’s
bridge at Wakool Shire Council’s June meeting on Wednesday.
Wakool Shire
approved an RMS proposal to de-list the Tooleybuc bridge, which has been
identified for replacement as part of the Bridges for the Bush program.
The
NSW Heritage Council will now consider the Tooleybuc bridge proposal before
making a recommendation to the Minister.
During the meeting, Cr Douglas also
called for council to write to their Swan Hill counterpart to seek assurance
that Murray Downs and the Wakool Shire community would be recognised in all
future bridge location discussions.
“Wakool Shire Council has and will
continue to consider impacts upon the Swan Hill community in all bridge location
discussions,” he said.
“This is something we have always done and is
demonstrated by our concern for not only Federal Square residents but also Swan
Hill’s European heritage from day one of the process.”
