Deputy mayor Ian North last month called for a report on the Bathurst Conservation Area Management Strategy (BCAMS) after it was revealed the strategy only related to buildings that front the street.

Cr North said that could be a failing as the strategy offered no protection for buildings at the rear of a site.

He was responding to discussions about a development application for 62 Morrisset Street that called for the demolition of an outbuilding dating back to the 1870s as part of a project to build a two-bedroom unit and three-bedroom unit, and a three-lot torrens title subdivision.

The DA also featured additions and alterations to an existing 1860s dwelling at the front of the lot.

A report to council by environmental, planning and building services director David Shaw sought to explain BCAMS’ place in council’s overall heritage assessments.

He said it was just one of the tools used to determine the heritage value of dwellings within the Bathurst City Heritage Conservation Area.

“The CAMS rating system is only relevant to buildings which face a public street as an integral part of the rating is how the building contributes to the streetscape,” he said.

Cr North asked if outbuildings could also be covered by BCAMS, but was told by Mr Shaw that this was not an option.

He said council’s heritage staff had spent the past 10 years compiling BCAMS reports on dwell-ings within the conservation area but were restricted to conducting their assessments from the street.

“They don’t go on to private land so there’s no way to comm-ent on buildings to the rear of a property because we don’t know they are there,” he said. “We won’t know that until a DA comes in.”

Mr Shaw said heritage staff conducted BCAMS assessments of dwellings within the conservation area as time allows.

He said nearly every streetfront building in the heritage zone had now been assessed.