Protest Meeting Called In Rangiora

Press, Volume C, Issue 29517, 19 May 1961, Page 10

Protest Meeting Called In Rangiora

The announcement of Route Cl as the approved route for the proposed northern outlet from Christchurch has caused disappointment among North Canterbury organisations and individuals, who consider that an alternative proposal received scant attention. At least 20 telegrams were sent yesterday to the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) opposing the choice. A sub-committee of the Rangiora Borough Council and the Rangiora Businessmen’s Association has called a protest meeting for Monday night in the War Memorial Hall at Rangiora to which local bodies and other organisations will be invited. The meeting will be open to individuals also. Among those being asked to be represented are the civil defence organisation and the North Canterbury Catchment Board—two bodies which a representative of the Rangiora sub-commit-tee said had not been officially consulted by the Ministry of Works. The three candidates in the Hurunui byelection will also be invited

The Ministry of Works had consulted all the local bodies individually, said Mr W. W Wood, a member of the Rangiora sub-committee yesterday. but at no stage had the Ministry placed the facts before a combined meeting of all affected parties. No one local body had been told the full story, and the meeting called for Monday night, even at this late stage, was an attempt to have all the proposals placed before a fully representative meeting. A senior member of the Ministry’s planning staff told a Rangiora meeting details of the proposed route, which was rejected by the meeting, said Mr Wood. The following day the same official attended a meeting of the Eyre County Council at which he said Rangiora was perfectly happy with the proposals. When representatives of the Rangiora committee called on the Mayor of Kaiapoi (Mr O. M. Williams) yesterday, said Mr Wood, they found that the alternative route suggested by Rangiora had not been shown to the Kaiapoi council. Nor did the Kaiapoi council know that

part of the route would be elevated, and likely to provide a ponding area if there was flooding by the Waimakariri river. The Waitnairi County Council had not seen the Rangiora proposals until shown them by Cr. B. A. Fitzpatrick, a member of the Rangiora sub-committee, and himself, said Mr Wood. They had visited the Waimairi council earlier this year. The Catchment Board was never officially consulted, said Mr Wood. Neither was another body vitally affected by the planning for the route—the civil defence organisation. There was a real danger of the three bridges—two road and one rail—being unusable in time of flood or national emergency if placed so closely together as provided for tn the Ministry’s scheme. When the National Roads Board came to Canterbury to inspect the motorway scheme, said Mr Wood, the blue (or F) route was shown as a nebulous dotted line far west of the route suggested by Rangiora. After inviting everyone to speak, continued Mr Wood, the District Commissioner of Works (Mr E. C. Smart) stated he had made up his mind "or rather his officers had made it up for him,” that the green or Cl route was the only one. even though most of the local body delegates present had spoken against it. To give all affected local bodies the opportunity of considering the matter at a united meeting they were being invited to the meeting in Rangiora on Monday, said Mr Wood. This would be the first opportunity all the affected parties had had of attending the one meeting to discuss the project. Representatives from the Ministry of Works would be invited also Advantages Claimed The route proposed by the combined Rangiora committee is claimed to have a number of advantages over the announced route. Points advanced by the committee include:—lt avoids the expense of elevating parts of the road, avoids flood ponding dangers, and crosses firmer ground; it makes the provision of another overhead bridge unnecessary by using the Styx overhead bridge; it avoids the costly provision of access routes to the motorway, such as would be required for the green route; the western route is shorter than the green route and provides easier access to the airport and growing industrial areas to the west of Christchurch: comparatively few houses would have to be shifted.