REGIONAL AUTHORITY

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29909, 24 August 1962, Page 13

REGIONAL AUTHORITY

Co-ordination Preferred

The proposed Canterbury Regional Authority could become “a vast colossus” costing £50,000 or £60,000 a year, with present personnel still required to run counterparts of the ad hoc bodies which it would replace, the chairman of the Heathcote County Council (Mr R. A. Young) told the council last evening.

Mr Young was the council's representative at the general meeting of local bodies held on August 6 to discuss the proposal, which was made by the Local Government Commission. However, the scheme should not be condemned out of hand. If the authority could be a co-ordinating body, the result might be that local bodies would be able to work together “more tidily and efficiently.” He cited the ChristchurchLyttelton tunnel road co-ord-ination committee as an example of the way local bodies could collaborate with advantage in a particular field A permanent board of works for the greater Christchurch metropolitan area, on the same basis as the tunnel committee, was well worth considering. The proposal for a refined authority to take over the functions of the ad hoc bodies was not so satisfactory, however, Mr Young said. Men who had worked for years on such bodies as hospital, harbour, fire, or drainage boards had achieved a considerable amount of specialist knowledge, which could not be looked for in the proposed full-time regional authority members. The council decided to discuss the matter more fully at its next meeting.