Hans Lovejoy
Plans by reality television TV show, The Block (Nine), to base an upcoming series on Sunrise Boulevard in Sunrise, Byron Bay, has upset an elderly neighbour.
Resident, Dorothy May, says she was offered well above market value for her home, but refused to sell.
Dorothy is 74, and a cancer patient in palliative care.
She told The Echo she was asked to sell by agents representing the company, but has refused.
She says her house is located in the middle of five homes that are pegged for the TV show, and is located on a busy road behind SAE.
‘All are under negotiation with offers of $500,000 over market value’.
Verbally agreed
Dorothy says while nothing has been signed, the ‘sales have been verbally agreed to’.
‘Everybody is onside’, she said. She also said it is ‘Morally wrong that a reality TV show can come and do this to a community’.
Dorothy says she is concerned that her amenity will be adversely impacted while five homes around her are partly or mostly demolished, and rebuilt, with a constant stream of filming and tradespeople.
‘I was told there was a distinct possibility for these new homes being built as two storey’, she said.
If that happens, she fears it will block her solar access.
‘I was also told, if the production and DAs were approved, they would work throughout the night, providing there were no power tools used’.
Schedule
She says she was told, ‘Demolition would start in February, they would start filming in April and go through till September with an auction possibly in October’.
All of Dorothy’s claims were put to the show’s parent company, Nine, for comment, but they declined to reply, other than to say: ‘We will not add to speculation on future seasons of The Block, as we’ll announce plans once a decision has been made’.
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