11 Henderson Street Fremantle WA 6160

There is no detail offered here to explain the extent of the proposal. But, shade sail cloth should not be allowed in front of highly significant heritage buildings because (a) they are buildings that have not needed such structures for the past 150 years of their existence (b) they negatively impact the appreciation of the building by residents and visitors, especially those who take photographs.

Visual clutter in highly significant heritage precincts is to be avoided. Already in this location is a plastic flapping sign in the street advertising the markets which is cheap and tacky and should be removed.

The negative impact of such sail cloth can be seen in North Fremantle in front of the former primary school there on Stirling Highway where sail cloth has obliterated the view of the attractive heritage building.

Without seeing details of what is proposed my comment would be that it is very hard to see how such an addition could be implemented at the front of the property without seriously impacting on the highly significant streetscape.Should the addition apply to the rear of the property then shade sails are vastly preferable from a heritage perspective to eg pergolas.
I have been i personally involved in a large scale heritage project where replacement of pergola with shade sail was undertaken for this reason.
Overall I hope that if the City does not already have policies/.guidelines in place covering such cases , development of them will be treated as a matter of urgency.A precedent should not be set by approving an inappropriate addition in this instance.

Shade sails on the front of the buildings would be inappropriate for these heritage buildings. They would detract from the streetscape; impact public amenity; reduce the attractiveness of the buildings for tourism. A poor precedent would be set - assuming, of course, that the shadesails would be for the front of the property.