TOWN HALL ADVISER

Press, Volume C, Issue 29620, 16 September 1961, Page 13

TOWN HALL ADVISER

Date For Visit Put Back

Sir William Holford, the British town-planning expert, will not be able to come to Qhristchiurcih in August of next year, as he had originally agreed, to advise on the site for the town hall. The Town Clerk (Mr C. S. Bowie) has received a letter from Sir William Holford saying that on his return from South Africa he had found a letter from the Christchurch City Council advising him that the suggested time of August would be convenient Between the council’s original letter inviting him to visit Christchurch and the letter advising that August would be suitable, there had been settlement on a date for the big international competition for a new civic centre at Johannesburg, and he would have to be on the spot from about the middle of July to assess the designs, Sir William Holford said.

There would be up to 300 designs to be considered, so the work would take some time, and he had to be back in England early in September. Therefore, it seemed doubtful whether a visit to Christchurch could be fitted in at that time.

It would probably be more appropriate to combine the Christchurch visit with one to Australia later, Sir William Holford said. He had had to decline an invitation by the Wellington City Council to assist it in its townplanning scheme. Cr. H. P. Smith, chairman of the town hall committee, said yesterday that the delay was disappointing. The council would have to ask Sir William Holford how much later his visit would be. It did not want to delay a decision too long.