The Catholic Church in Wanganui says it's unhappy with the way it has been treated by the Historic Places Trust.
St Mary's parish has begun to demolish its three-storey brick presbytery building to make space for a car-park, as part of a wider redevelopment of the church site.
Demolition work started after St Mary's Presbytery was listed as a Category 1 historic place earlier this year.
Historic Places Trust central region general manager Ann Neill says the building could have been saved if Wanganui District Council had not delayed a change to its district plan.
She says the plan change would have resulted in heritage protection for St Mary's Presbytery and a number of other buildings.
Ms Neill says the trust believes the community will regret the short-sighted action, and is at a loss as to why the important building has to come down when all options had not been fully exhausted.
St Mary's priest, David Bell, says after discussions earlier this year the trust only gave the church one day's notice it was awarding the building Category 1 status.
Monsignor Bell says the trust's approach was dictatorial and not a good way to deal with building owners.
He says the building dominated the church site and would have required significant upkeep.
Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws has also criticised the trust saying it should be embarrassed by its own actions, as it should have known the building was at risk for years. He says the trust was pathetic and could have done a lot more itself.
"They had not listed the presbytery, in fact they're derelict in their responsibilities, and if I was their chief executive I'd be resigning over this issue."
