A request for support of a consultation process with the Morpeth community to get a heritage nomination listing underway has been knocked back by Maitland City Council.
At council's meeting on Tuesday night eight of the twelve councilors voted against the consultation requested by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage suggested in a letter to the council that they provide "in principal" support for the nomination to allow the Heritage Division to begin community consultation in Morpeth and surrounds to determine what support there is for the listing.
The consultation would happen before any official heritage listing.
"I don't know whether there's sour grapes within the components of Maitland City Council that certain people didn't get elected into the positions that they wanted or whether there's another agenda there we just don't know. But just voting no to allow a community to have a say is reprehensible as far as a council is concerned," said Simon.
Simon also said the heritage nomination won't stop any development within the town, but what it will do is make sure any development is consistent with the heritage of the town and its surrounding countryside.
He said the decision council made against the town having a say doesn't bode well for the their future.
"It's staggering and what is even more staggering is that our elected council, the people who we vote in and whose rates we pay, decided to vote no for allowing their community to have a say on their future. It's absolutely quite extraordinary," said Simon.
