General News
29 June, 2024
Couple starts new home search
DAVE Cook and Sally Armstrong have put their Wedderburn property on the market as they start dismantling the shed they made their home. Loddon Shire Council ordered the shed be removed after the couple failed to obtain a permit for the building on...
DAVE Cook and Sally Armstrong have put their Wedderburn property on the market as they start dismantling the shed they made their home.
Loddon Shire Council ordered the shed be removed after the couple failed to obtain a permit for the building on their Bobseins Hill Road property.
Dave said on Monday that he had started the task of dismantling the shed made of recycled materials to comply with the council order.
“We are still to find a place to live ... we want to stay in the district,” Dave said.
“The block has been put up for sale and we hope to find somewhere around here to make our next home on.
“There’s some land in the area that’s for sale where we could apply for a permit and build again. But at the moment, I’m just making sure we are dismantling the shed and then will look for somewhere else to live while things gets sorted,” he said.
Dave said he and Sally had been heartened by support in the community after sharing their story in the Loddon Herald last week. “If we can’t find anywhere to live, we’ll go back to being grey nomads,” he said.
Former shire mayor Helen Leech in a Loddon Herald online comment said: “I don’t know where, or what this ‘shed home’ looks like, but throwing people out in the middle of winter is a complete lack of compassion.
“Does the council have alternative accommodation for them? Times are tough, work with these people, not against them.”
Loddon Shire’s director operations Steve Phillips said council’s municipal building surveyor was “regularly responding to complaints relating to the illegal occupation of buildings.
“This is a serious matter that can have significant consequence for the people involved, including the safety of the occupants, non-conformance can result in the removal of the buildings, fines and even potentially magistrates court appearance for non-compliance.
“The municipal building surveyor is continuing to work with property owners to achieve compliance with the Victorian building legislation,” Mr Phillips said.