Griffith residents say the ACT Government and developers are ignoring heritage requirements in their inner south suburb, where homes of heritage significance are being almost totally demolished.
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They protested in 2008, saying the approval of a large new home at 11 Bass Garden would create a precedent for developments outside the ''Blandfordia 5'' Garden City requirements.
Another home, at 13 Bass Garden, has been substantially demolished, outraging neighbours, who believe it should have been protected and that they should have been notified.
Bass Garden resident Andrew Gordon believes the Government is breaking the law in approving redevelopments. The Government denies this, saying the development has Heritage Council consent.
The National Trust (ACT) said the block had to keep the visual characteristics of the original development and the latest development did not meet all the mandatory requirements.
Conservation and heritage architect Eric Martin said the approval process was inconsistent.
In a review of the Heritage Act last year, consultant Duncan Marshall recommended houses of significance within heritage areas should be substantially conserved and remain largely intact unless there were exceptional circumstances.
He recommended the Heritage Council and ACT planners urgently undertake a detailed audit of approved development applications within heritage residential precincts to find out why there were substantial demolitions.
Griffith resident Anne Forrest, a former Local Area Planning Advisory Committee chairman, said a heritage assessment officer's definition of partial demolition and her definition came from ''different dictionaries''.
Jack Trevillian built the two-storey home at 13 Bass Garden in the 1940s. His father Tom was an engineer at the Kingston Powerhouse from 1919 to the 1953. Trevillian Quay on the Kingston Foreshore is named after him.
The current owners bought the home last year and engaged an architect to redevelop the property.
The architect, who asked not to be named, said the development went through all the correct channels and clear and lengthy scrutiny before approval.
The front of the house was the only part the Heritage Council wanted retained, because it was original, the rest comprised of extensions in 1952, 1974 and other years.
Planning Minister Simon Corbell said he was satisfied with heritage assessment for homes in Blandfordia 5 and other neighbourhoods with significant heritage.
