[Greens-Media] Four years on and the saga of the Guildford Hotel continues: WA Greens

[Richards, Kirsten]

WA Greens East Metro MLC Alison Xamon for the last two nights in Parliament has reiterated the call for immediate action on the preservation of the Guildford Hotel, four years after a fire gutted the historic building.

Ms Xamon said the hotel had not even been made watertight during this time, which was a glaring example of the inadequacy of WA's heritage legislation.

"I share with the community their despair at the way this saga has been dragged out for so long," Ms Xamon said.

"We have a very active community among my constituents in Guildford, who have been fighting for four years to save this building and I am happy to continue to support them in any way I can.

"I drive through Guildford a lot because it is only about five minutes from where I live so I understand and I share the community's frustration with this situation."

Ms Xamon said the fate of the hotel had been tied up in the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) until last Friday (September 7) when the owners withdrew their appeal to SAT.

"Only now will the owners consider proceeding with rebuilding," Ms Xamon said.

"However, we have no guarantees as to when repairs might actually start, and I am still concerned it might be too late to save the building.

"I really hope there are no more winters without the beginnings of real restoration work on this hotel.

"And I hope we will see the promised changes to our heritage laws as soon as possible. 

"This has shown how completely inadequate our heritage laws are, and I note that four years later and with an election looming that the State Government's promised reform of heritage laws still hasn't happened.

"I think the whole saga has been a sad indictment on the way that we are failing to value heritage appropriately in this State.

"We need and want the Guildford Hotel to be saved and rebuilt and not just left to rot.  Let's just hope that the owners current undertakings to shore up the urgent work required on the Hotel by the end of the year happens."