TOWN PLANNING AND DRAINAGE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20103, 5 December 1930, Page 23

TOWN PLANNING AND DRAINAGE.

• w ADDRESS TO INSTITUTE. Drainage problems in relation to. town planning were dealt with in a paper read to the Christchurch branch of the Town Planning Institute of New Zealand by Mr E. F. Scott, A.M.1.C.E., last evening. Mr A. It. Galbraith presided over the meeting. "Drainage is different from all other public utilities," said Mr Scott, "in that it is closely related to the fall of the ground, and, being an expensive service, is one that amply repays deep and careful consideration being given it when planning an area for settlement. Naturally the cost of sewerage is cheapest per house when the settlement is closest, and a well-ordered and well-developed community is more economically served than straggling streets and scattered dwellings. The Zoning System. "Another aspect of the town planning scheme prepared for an urban area is the system of declaring zones for the various classes of property, residential, business, and manufactures," continued. "There are several areas within the lvmits of existing schemes which in their present state cannot be sewered economically for similar reasons, and in my opinion should be declared non-occupiable zones, until such . time as formation works should build up the frontages and portions of sections to a satisfactory" level. These same properties would be vastly improved by being filled up to a'level above normal flooding, and when so filled up, could be sewered by the ordinary gravitational system. "Tho biggest gain from a rational scheme of zoning, however, is in the segregation, by degrees, of all manufacturing and offensive industries into cne area. Expanding Communities. "Growing communities must expand and absorb more and more of the rural land. But the dwellers on the outskirts must realise that, in going

for out, they put themselves in a rural environment and are not to expect urban or suburban utilities until it is economical to give them. "However, town planning should not hinder settlement in outlying parts, but should show every prospective home-builder that it depended on his choice of locality just how long he would have to wait for civic amenities, or how much extra he would have to Pay if he got them before it was economical to give them to him." At the beginning of the meeting it was decided, on the suggestion of the chairman, to forward to the annual meeting of the council of the Institute a resolution that medical officers of health should be admitted as ordinary members, instead of only as honorary members as at present.