Cr Morse again called on the state government to help councils protect the past as Bathurst Regional Council discussed a development application for 206 William Street on Wednesday night.

Councillors voted to allow the owners to demolish the 1880s workers' cottage, along with a healthy mature tree, to build a new home that will incorporate bricks from the original dwelling and design features consistent with the cottage's history.

Cr Morse said she would support the DA and acknowledged the efforts of the cottage's new owners to build a home that would reflect the region's past, but was disappointed that another heritage home would be lost forever.

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"This is one of those examples, really, of demolition by neglect," Cr Morse said.

"It's in a block that I live close to and for the past 15 or so years I have walked past that house on a regular basis taking my dogs for a walk.

"It has been a great shame that it has been allowed to deteriorate to that extent. I know there have been complaints about rats, about the gutters and the way it has been allowed to deteriorate."

Cr Morse said councils could do little to pressure owners to maintain their homes and called on the state government to offer greater support.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again; I wish there was something we could do to make those owners look after their houses," she said.

"There's nothing in the law and the state government doesn't help us in a heritage city, so there's nothing we can do to make the owners look after their houses in our conservation area."

Deputy mayor Ian North shared Cr Morse's frustration but said Bathurst's recent record of preserving the past was much better than in previous years.

"We get down to one basic point and that's that we can't save everything, but we save what we can save," he said.

"When I think back to our [bicentenary] we were fortunate to host Lord and Lady Bathurst and I remember they made the comment of what a wonderful city and wonderful architecture we have here.

"So as much as we get knocked about knocking down things in the past, it's nice to see a change in culture so people are now getting in and trying to recreate what was there, to understand what was there in the past and to move forward into the future.

"When you have people come from a country that is a lot older than ours and has such wonderful architecture, for them to say something like that we must be doing something right."