HOUSING SURVEY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 270, 13 November 1937, Page 12

HOUSING SURVEY.

METHOD CRITICISED.

PLANNING FOR FUTURE.

GOVERNMENT INCONSISTENT.

"The failure of the Government to appreciate the fundamentals of town and regional planning is amazing to those acquainted with the principles involved," said Mr. E. V. Blake, chairman or the Auckland Town Planning Institute, to-day. He added that this apparent apathy was still more difficult to understand when it was remembered that the # Government had pledged itself to a planned economy. "The various desirable measures, such *a amalgamation of local authorities, the housing survey, housing construction and sport or physical training, would all have been simplified," he continued, "if town or regional planning had been put in hand. The data necessary for guidance in considering the amalgamation of local authorities would to a large extent have been collected with regional surveys. The existing conditions for urban areas would have been demonstrated on town plans, and the necessity for the provision of recreation grounds and their proper placing would have been shown by these surveys. Many Aspect! of Planning. "The housing survey is an integral part of town planning, and the data obtained for the one could have been used for both. With the accompanying properly prepared plan it would at once have shown the need for housing construction, and where these houses should be placed," said Mr. Blake. "All these questions affecting housing, traffic routes, recreation grounds and other phases of civic development are so interrelated that none of them should be decided without some reference to the other. "There is no more Important department of the Government's activities, if it but knew it, than the Town Planning Department, yet this branch is limited in staff to an officer in an advisory capacity playing a passive role instead of actively engaging the interest of local authorities in the most important work they could carry out in their areas." Mr. Blake said the failure was reflected in every district, and was responsible for faulty roading layouts, unsatisfactory subdivisions, bad section design, streets with no outlets, shortage of recreation areas, congestion of traffic, and over-coverage of building allotments. The consequence of these defect* would become increasingly apparent with the progress of settlement, and it would be exceedingly costly later to rectify the many errors which could be easily avoided if action were taken in the early stages of development. Expert Advice Needed. "No praise Is too great for the service given freely by many members of local authorities," he remarked, "but there has been too great a tendency for them

to decide their problems without sufficient knowledge of local requirements, and, to an extent, without adequate expert advice on the wider questions involved in controlling the growth of urban and suburban areas."

Referring to the series of articles published in the "Star" on various phases of town and regional planning, Mr. Blake said these emphasised the "crying need" of planning. The criticisms expressed by the experts interviewed had drawn attention to the many-sided nature of the problem, but as the matter was generally looked upon as "nobody's business" there was a danger that the evils would continue. What was required was that the Government should insist on local authorities proceeding with town planning.