Wellington City Council are putting pressure on the Government to make it easier to remove heritage listings from buildings.

A letter from the Council written to RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop states the city has 554 quake-prone buildings, 163 of which are heritage listed.

The letter suggests building owners are increasingly becoming unable to meet the cost of quake-strengthening or redevelopment.

Wellington City Councillor Ben McNulty says the current system simply isn't working.

"In October, there was no other option but to spend that ungodly amount of $320 million on the town hall in a water crisis because it's category 1 heritage-listed. And that meant we were never going to have a reasonable alternative." 

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