The owner of a St Georges Square property at the centre of a heritage debate maintains she has done nothing wrong, describing fuss made over the demolition of a fence as a "circus".
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A development application to demolish the house located at 14-16 St Georges Square is before the City of Launceston council.
On Tuesday the red brick masonry fence surrounding the home was demolished, despite the DA stating it would be retained.
National Trust managing director Matthew Smithies said he witnessed the demolition of the "historic" wall, describing it as an absolute disgrace.
"It is difficult to fathom that in 2019 such heritage vandalism is allowed to proceed," he said.
"We have been in contact with National Trust members who are outraged."
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However, the property's owner Kristi Seymour said the fence was not heritage listed and had been deemed too unstable to stay.
"It's been an absolute circus. At the end of the day it's a crooked fence that needed fixing," she said.
"The wall was taken down because it was unsafe. The wall isn't heritage listed, it has been deemed dangerous.
"People are saying it was removed from the demolition application, but we didn't need a demolition application."
City of Launceston General Manager Michael Stretton said the council were continuing to investigate the matter and would provide an update on Thursday.
Ms Seymour said she had every intention of re-building the wall with the same bricks.
"We didn't need a permit to pull it down, but the way we have gone about it in order to carry out all of the necessary repairs ... we were always going to reconstruct the same wall," she said.
"We love it. It was one of the things we liked about the house.
"I made the inquiries with council when I purchased it and if I had been told that I couldn't make that wall safe and structurally sound, I wouldn't have bought the property."
The DA to demolish the house closed for comment on August 7.
Jessica Willard
Being a health reporter to me is about more than just reporting the problems. It's about asking why they are happening in the first place and what needs to change to fix it.
Being a health reporter to me is about more than just reporting the problems. It's about asking why they are happening in the first place and what needs to change to fix it.
