FIRE STATION SITE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28700, 25 September 1958, Page 12

FIRE STATION SITE

Road Safety Discussed The proposed site of the new headquarters station for the Christchurch Fire Brigade—the corner of Oxford terrace and Kilmore street—was discussed briefly by the Christchurch Metropolitan Road Safety Committee last evening, but any decision was deferred after Mr G. P. Kellar, the City Council’s traffic superintendent, had said that as he had to make an official report to the council he was not prepared to discuss the matter in the meantime. He had been approached with a request that the committee should consider the proposed site, and he had promised to raise the matter, but the committee could consider it only from the point of view of road safety, said the chairman (Mr N. J. G. Spearv). He had been on the two major committees of the City Council that had heard the minister and a member of the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church protest against the station’s siting, said Mr H. E. Denton.

“Until next Monday night, it is committee business,” he said “You have ruled that we must confine ourselves to the safety angle. I would like very much to be open and say what I think of the siting of the fire station “Definite Hazard” “I can see a definite traffic hazard there,” he said. The deputation from the church had said that only on one Monday in every month were the church buildings free from attendances. At times there were as many as 600 or 700 persons leaving the church at a time.

“Even at present it is not a terrifically safe intersection,” Mr Denton continued. “I think that the fire station is not well sited.” Any site would be better than the present one in Lichfield street, and that was his view from a traffic angle, said Mr N. Wright. “No matter where you shift the fire station, you will have a problem,” Mr M. Cosgriff said “I don’t think there is a big enough traffic hazard involved to warrant our taking action.” People who were protesting seemed to have very little faith in the firemen drivers who drove hundreds of miles through the city without having accidents, said Mr A. J. Luxton.