VICTORIA SQUARE TRAM STOP

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25735, 22 February 1949, Page 3

VICTORIA SQUARE TRAM STOP

SHELTER MAY BE ERECTED If the new tram stop on the Papanui line remains at Victoria square ihste?<L°* at the intersection of Armagh and Colombo streets, the provision of shelters m Victoria street or the marking of a pedestrian crossing ovei Armagh street on the west side of the intersection will be considered. This was reported by the traffic committee to last nights meeting of the City Council. A meeting had been held recently between the Christchurch Tramway Board and a sub-committee to discuss the questsion. The report added that the meeting had agreed that the moving of the stop away from the intersection was an improvement from the traffic viewpoint. Officers of the Tramway Board and che council had been requested to confer on a suitable type of shelter which would not detract from the beauty of Victoria square. It was stated that a glass cantilever type of bus shelter was being used in England. Another meeting is to be held. “I am more than ever opposed to this,” said the Mayor (Mr E. H. Andrews). “I will strenuously oppose the erection of a shelter of any sort. A vast majority of the people of Christchurch are opposed to any building there. Apart from the • desecration there is the inconvenience to women and children. I had hoped that the board and the committee would have seen the error of their ways and transferred the stop back.” * Several councillors expressed their opposition to the present site, and said that motor traffic should -be diverted to side streets, but Cr. P. S. Turnbull said the council “should not get cold feet like it did over the park.” Cr. L. G. Amos said-there was a large unsheltered area in the Square, and people did not seem to complain about that. “It is time we grew up,” he said. “Whenever we do something progressive there is a host of protests.” The report was only information, said Cr. C. D. W. L. Sheppard, chairman of the traffic committee. The report was then received.