LAUNCESTON aldermen overwhelmingly rejected moves to delist the heritage status of the city's C.H. Smith site at yesterday's council meeting.
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All aldermen present, with the exception of Alderman Ted Sands, voted against his motion to discuss with the Tasmanian Heritage Council and landowner Brile the site's planned $30 million retail development, and remove the site from the state's heritage register.
Alderman Sands unsuccessfully urged the council to take the lead on pushing the project ahead through delisting the site, which he described as a "decaying vertical section of rubble".
After he spoke, the meeting heard that the development's main impediment was securing tenants to start the project, not heritage restrictions.
Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten and general manager Robert Dobrzynski said Brile had not raised any heritage issues with the council over three years of discussions on the development.
Mr Dobrzynski said the developers had told him the site's heritage values had appealed to some prospective tenants.
Alderman Hugh McKenzie said the council had no right to intervene with the development at this stage, unless part of the development application had been breached.
"We have no right to decide on anything to do with the land without the owner's consent," he said.