HOUSING NEAR PLANTATION

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28532, 11 March 1958, Page 7

HOUSING NEAR PLANTATION

Council Concern At Fire Risk

Objections by the City Council to a proposal to subdivide a large area of land adjoining the council’s plantations at Bottle Lake have been conveyed to the Minister of Lands (Mr Skinner). He has been asked that the area should remain rural. The Regional Authority "nd the North Canterbury Hospital Board, which has a plantation next to the area, have been asked for support. The council was seriously perturbed because of the fire risk, both to the plantation and to houses should the subdivision be approved, says the letter to the Minister. “The plantations are national as well as local assets, and the New Zealand Forest Service is constantly advocating the retention of existing forest®*’ areas and their increase wherever possible to ensure an adequate supply for the future requirements of the country,” the letter continues. “Adjoining the subdivision is not only the council’s plantation of 3166 acres, but a block of 200 acres owned by the Hospital Board. “To provide a fire break, the council is prepared to negotiate for the purchase of existing land in its present state —rural —but not as residential. “Alt 'h the Regional Planning Authority has recommended that the area be zoned rural? the Waimairi County Council has apparently approved the subdivision. “While a suggested fire break may provide some measures of safety, it would not obviate the fire danger,” the council says.