The Star: July 11, 2024
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>July</strong> <strong>11</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
10<br />
NEWS<br />
Historic cottage<br />
could be moved<br />
• By Dylan Smits<br />
MOVING TO a new site is likely for<br />
Canterbury’s historic Yew Cottage as<br />
options for the flood-prone heritage<br />
building are assessed.<br />
Its foundations and lower interior are<br />
water-damaged after sitting unoccupied<br />
since 2007 in a low lying area.<br />
<strong>The</strong> cottage, in Akaroa’s Rue Jolie, was<br />
built by a cooper in 1877 and passed into<br />
city council ownership after being purchased<br />
by the Banks Peninsula council in<br />
1981.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū Banks<br />
Peninsula Community Board directed<br />
city council staff on Monday to focus on<br />
finding a new site on higher ground.<br />
To make way for potential commercial<br />
use, board members also asked staff to<br />
investigate rescinding the 2022 board<br />
decision, which designated residential use<br />
for the cottage.<br />
Akaroa Civic Trust chair Mike Norris<br />
was pleased the community board was<br />
looking into moving the cottage for<br />
restoration, rather than demolishing it.<br />
“It would be a shame to demolish it. I<br />
think if it can be preserved. We’d support<br />
that,” Norris said.<br />
No final decision has been made as<br />
Monday’s session was information only.<br />
<strong>The</strong> community board still needs to take<br />
an official vote when staff return with<br />
more detail.<br />
Norris said previous indecision by the<br />
RESTORE: Yew Cottage, built in 1877,<br />
is an example of early settler homes<br />
in Banks Peninsula. <br />
city council has made it more difficult to<br />
find a long-term solution for the cottage.<br />
“It’s been neglected so much that I think<br />
the council needs to have a really good<br />
long look at what they’ve proposed to do<br />
with it if they do restore it. It’s no good<br />
having an empty building,” he said.<br />
Banks Peninsula city councillor Tyrone<br />
Fields rejected the idea city council<br />
indecision has further damaged the<br />
building, saying a lack of community input<br />
in the past has created uncertainty about<br />
how the cottage should be used.<br />
“We’ve tried to be responsible with ratepayers’<br />
money and have asked staff to find<br />
the best solutions for that.”<br />
Fields favours moving the building<br />
over demolition, but would prefer the<br />
city council does not pay for it and a new<br />
private owner is found to foot the bill for<br />
the move and restoration.<br />
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