An eleventh hour attempt to prevent demolition of Civic Hall has been “severely handicapped” because access to inspect the hall’s interior was blocked by Ballarat City Council, a Heritage Council of Victoria registrations hearing in Melbourne was told yesterday.Anne Beggs-Sunter, from Ballarat Heritage Watch, said she was also denied access to the site’s Crown Land files which are held by the Department of Sustainability and Environment.“These are two important pieces of evidence that were withheld from me,” Dr Beggs-Sunter said.The hearing was held after Ballarat Heritage Watch objected to the determination of Heritage Victoria that Civic Hall was of local significance, rather than state significance.In October it recommended not to include Civic Hall on the Victorian Heritage Register.Dr Beggs-Sunter said the city’s heritage architect, Brian Benson, had not been consulted on the decision to demolish the building.“We have seen no evidence of his input,” she said.She said the interior, displayed in photos presented by Heritage Victoria, showed Civic Hall had suffered “demolition by neglect” with the last maintenance undertaken in 2002.She said her group had been arguing for nine years for the “adaptive re-use” of the building, particularly on environmental grounds.“There were huge amounts of steel and brick used in the construction,” she said.Dr Beggs-Sunter said many Ballarat and regional citizens were passionate about Civic Hall because of its extensive cultural and social history. She said Ballarat now missed having a large public space for events like rock concerts.Dr Beggs-Sunter said the hall had a strong association with the Begonia Festival, Victoria’s first community festival, and South Street, where eisteddfod events were held from 1957 to 1965.Regionally, it was the site for public service exams, “huge” election meetings and anti-Vietnam war meetings.Dr Beggs-Sunter said Ballarat Heritage Watch wanted Civic Hall included in the planning scheme, with a heritage overlay, to ensure “some level of recognition” by Ballarat Council of its significance to the city and the region.Hearing chair Anita Smith said a decision would be made within four weeks.