Permission for footpath barriers around the Dainty Dairy building in Stuart St is temporary and they are not to be in place indefinitely, Dunedin City Council resource consents manager Alan Worthington says.
Mr Worthington was reacting to an engineer's report, released by dairy building co-owner Alistair Broad last week, recommending barriers stay in place, even though the building's unstable veranda and parapets had been removed recently.
"The council will allow barriers to remain for a period while the matter is worked through to a satisfactory conclusion," Mr Worthington said.
Pointing out the engineer's report said the former dairy was safe for the "time being", Mr Worthington said this gave time for Mr Broad to obtain resource consent to demolish the building or undertake further work on it.
Mr Broad, when contacted, agreed the report was contradictory, and said he was seeking clarification from his engineer.
Mr Broad said he would like to demolish the building but the council's planning rules were draconian and the process extremely expensive.
