After eight years of battling with various government authorities, former car dealer Gerry Hevron has finally been allowed to demolish the Midland Inn.
He plans to replace it with another tavern.
Workers were knocking down the dilapidated heritage-listed structure, situated on the corner of Great Eastern Highway and Morrison Road in Midland, on June 27 after the Midland Redevelopment Authority, with the support of the Heritage Council of WA, gave the green light for its demolition.
Mr Hevron bought the old hotel in 1996, only to realise that the building had been constructed with no footings and was in poor condition.
He approached the Heritage Council seeking some grants to help pay for its refurbishment, but the council told him the building had no heritage significance.
The building was seriously damaged by fire a couple of months later, prompting the City of Swan – then the authority with planning approval over the hotel site – to have its facade facing Great Eastern Highway propped up with scaffolding.
When Mr Hevron applied to the City of Swan for a demolition permit, the Heritage Council announced that the building may have some heritage significance after all.
That interim heritage interest was strengthened last year when Heritage Minister Tom Stephens had the inn added to the State Register of Heritage Places.
What concerned Mr Hevron was that he would be held personally liable if the building were to collapse and injure somebody.
