Ku-ring-gai Town Centres and the Jim McDougall House

Imminent risk of destruction

·         Threats to Jim McDougall House are symptomatic of the threats to Ku-ring-gai

·         Ku-ring-gai has highly significant aesthetic, scientific, architectural, social and historic heritage values including endangered Blue Gum High Forest remnants

·         The five town centres of Ku-ring-gai are in National Trust Urban Conservation Areas for their high integrity and village character

·         Whole garden streetscapes are being lost including that of the former home of Annie Wyatt, founder of the National Trust in Australia

Ku-ring-gai is a model for garden suburbs design which has created a unique heritage character. A number of individual heritage listed places and streetscapes have already been demolished. The McDougall House and its grounds containing critically endangered Blue Gum High Forest face demolition for a six-storey residential development.

THREAT:

Loss of settings and entire garden streetscapes, loss of trees and bushland, demolition of many individual outstanding heritage homes and replacement by six-storey apartment blocks, and loss of community under insensitive development and unsympathetic rezonings.

DESIRED OUTCOME/VISION:

Town Centres should be listed as statutory conservation areas, individual heritage items, including McDougall House, and their settings should be protected and new developments designed sensitively to complement the character and identity of the conservation areas.

FATE/OUTCOME:

Strongly suffering. Ku-ring-gai’s heritage is being smashed and shattered.