Heritage advocates urge Crown to act
The slow decay of a prominent building has heritage advocates questioning if there’s enough money in the Crown’s kete to properly maintain its heritage sites.
Palmerston North’s old police station, on Church St, is part of Rangita¯ ne o Manawatu¯ ’s Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
But, because of the building’s dilapidated state, the iwi has questioned if it wants to take possession from the Crown-run ‘‘landbank’’, looked after by Land Information New Zealand.
Land Information’s deputy chief executive Jerome Sheppard said the Crown agency took ‘‘all reasonable steps’’ to maintain the property, balanced against the need to prioritise funding across the landbank.
Heritage advocates are ‘‘dismayed’’ by the building’s condition, and the implication that budget constraints could put heritage buildings at risk.
Rangita¯ ne o Manawatu¯ Investment Trust chairman Ruma Karaitiana said the iwi was wary of accepting a property so ‘‘rich in risk’’ – the old police station contains toxic mould and other contaminants, and sections of its floors and ceilings have collapsed, or were unstable.
Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage referred questions back to Sheppard who said the agency received budget increases ‘‘as appropriate’’ to help manage the 940 landbank properties.
Maintaining tenanted properties was prioritised over empty, run-down buildings that could need significant expenditure to fix up, while their future was still being decided, he said.
Palmerston North City councillor Rachel Bowen said tenanted buildings understandably took priority, for health and safety reasons, but it was a ‘‘dereliction of duty’’ to let heritage buildings rot.
‘‘If a property has been recognised as significant [to our heritage], the Crown has a responsibility to maintain it while it’s in their care.’’
Bowen said the city council raised concerns about the exstation’s deterioration more than four years ago, and Crown officials told them they didn’t have the funding to maintain it. It was worn, but safe to enter then. However, it has since decayed.
The station’s fate implied a wider, national issue, she said.
Bowen said the station’s heritage elements were all on its facade and the rest could be demolished without losing these, although that wouldn’t be the case for every heritage building.
Bowen said more needed to be done, whether it was seeking more funding, shifting priorities, or triage-style maintenance plans focused on preserving only the listed heritage elements.
Palmerston North historian Val Burr said the Crown needed to try harder to preserve heritage buildings in its care. ‘‘I’m dismayed by the state of [the old police station].’’
It was built in 1938. Two relatively rare elements of the building’s front were worthy of preservation, including the building’s ko¯ whaiwhai patterns, which represent the role the police play in the community.
Burr said fashionable art deco facades normally incorporated Native American designs, but the Palmerston North station was one of the few to do the same with Ma¯ ori designs, part of a smaller group that made them a prominent feature. The second feature was the rare royal coat of arms.