This was published 5 months ago
How the City of Swan’s mayor was refused council approval for renovations
The City of Swan’s new mayor was not taking no for an answer as her own planning department repeatedly refused to agree to renovations on her heritage-listed Guildford home.
Tanya Richardson, who was elected to the position of mayor in October, and her husband Daniel Richardson, have been trying to add a balcony with French doors to the rear of their property since 2018. They also want to add a black fence and make other alterations.
77 James Street, Guildford, owned by City of Swan mayor Tanya Richardson.
But the City’s planners have rejected some of the changes saying they are not in keeping with the property’s State Heritage listing.
In response, six years after their initial application was made, the couple took the matter to the State Administrative Tribunal, claiming the City’s latest knockback was not conducted within its ‘legal power’.
The Richardsons bought the 1896 property in 2013 for $600,000.
The brick and iron home sits on a 511 square metre block and comes complete with ceiling roses, a wrap around verandah, bay windows and stained glass.
But the couple wanted to make some alterations and one year after Tanya and her husband made an application to the City of Swan’s Planning Department to get approval for those alterations, she was also elected as a councillor.
The nurse, mum-of-four and former Army Reserve medic was then elected to become the City’s first female mayor (it previously has had a female president) in October last year, around the same time her husband, the sole applicant on the planning application, was providing written submissions for the renovations.
This week the tribunal found in favour of the planning department.
City of Swan mayor Tanya Richardson took her house renos to SAT.Credit: City of Swan Media
“The Tribunal, having considered the substantial merits of this case, taking into account the planning framework including those matters that must form part of its consideration under the Heritage Act ... considers the matters the subject of this review warrant refusal in the exercise of discretion,” documents stated.
The mayor wanted to add solar panels and seven sky lights to the property’s roof, amend the front roofline, return the existing painted face brick of the house to its natural brick colour, install a Victorian fan gable infill with glass inlays to the façade of the house and install a double-carport and pool gazebo.
Those elements of their application were approved.
But it was their plans for a new fence and balcony with French “appurtenant” doors that were denied by the planning department, as well as SAT.
“It is not the appropriate style and form of fencing to match the period of development of the building on the subject land with which it will be associated,” SAT documents stated.
“For these reasons ... the style and materials used in the fence detract from the heritage significance of the subject site, its streetscape context in Hubert Street and from the broader Guildford Heritage Area as it fails to respect or complement the heritage significance of the area.”
The proposed balcony was highly contentious, proposing to be constructed with vertical timber balustrading and is accessed via a set of glazed double doors.
But planning experts, including two heritage experts, stated “they are not sympathetic to the character of the existing property or the street context.
“The balcony is of a style that is inconsistent with the simple Federation Queen Anne style of the dwelling and will likely be perceived as faux heritage and reduce the visual prominence of the existing heritage building,” documents stated.
Mayor Richardson has been contacted for comment.
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