PLAN FOR SQUARE APPROVED

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30783, 22 June 1965, Page 16

PLAN FOR SQUARE APPROVED

Council Rejects Move For Further Study

The new design for Cathedral Square was approved by the City Council last evening, but only after a long debate and a division on a proposal that approval be deferred and the scheme be considered by the finance committee. Labour councillors criticised Cr. A. R. Guthrey, chairman of the w’orks committee, for announcing the design before it was submitted to the council. He replied that the scheme had been before the council on many occasions.

The council also agreed that the City Engineer (Mr P. G. Scoular) should go overseas to study the latest developments in sunken courtyards and pedestrian subways, along with other work of interest to the city. The works committee said preliminary figures indicated that the £300,000 scheme could be provided at no cost to the ratepayers. There was approximately 4000 sq ft of rentable space in the underground courtyard, the committee said. This could return £16.000 a year. One hundred showcases at £1 a week in the pedestrian subway would return another £5200. Interest and sinking fund charges on a cost of £300.000 would be about £21.000 a year The council agreed with the committee that a loan be raised for the scheme. Cr. H. E. Denton compained that Cr. Guthrey had tried to “sell" the scheme by appearing on television and announcing it in the newspapers before taking it to the council Water The scheme did not have the support of the people, Cr Denton said. He was amazed at the suggestion of an underground shopping centre when there was always trouble with the pumping of water. “We are not going to have Cabinet control by one man,” he said. Cr. Denton asked whether there could be any guarantee that the subterranean water could be dealt with. Was Cr. Guthrey satisfied that the scheme could be made selfsupporting financially? “We should tell Cr. Guthrey once and for all that he is chairman of the works committee and not the council," he said. “I am going to move that the matter be deferred, as the information before us is far too sketchy.”

No councillor should report to anyone before referring a matter to the council, said the Mayor (Mr G. Manning). The water level of the city was dangerously high, he said, and to put sunken courts in the Square seemed a difficult problem. In any case, he did not like the idea of a shopping centre in the middle of the Square in front of the Cathedral. There was no call for an attack on Cr. Guthrey, said Cr. A. E. Armstrong. There was nothing new in the design, merely a modification which had the technical approval of engineers and other experts and the aesthetic approval of the Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren) and others. “Christchurch is lucky to have the enthusiasm Cr. Guthrey has put into this,” Cr. P. J. Skellerup said. Pious platitudes had been talked about the proximity of shops to the Cathedral, Cr. H G. Hay said. Anything that could be done to generate interest in the heart of the city must be worth while. Overseas Tour Cr. W. P. Glue said the engineer should go overseas first before any definite plans were made. The Local Authorities Loans Board would want firm financial details before it approved any loan.

If the City Engineer was going overseas to look at a

lot of civic projects his trip might be justifiable; but it certainly would not be supported by Labour councillors if he was just going to look at sunken courtyards, Cr. N. G. Pickering said. Cr. Guthrey had committed an unpardonable offence by going on television and disclosing information before it was before the council, said Cr. M. B. Howard, M.P. Cr. Guthrey Replies “If I have acted unethically I will apologise in due course if the council finds me guilty,” Cr. Guthrey said. “I don’t think I have.”

The Square improvement plans, including a pedestrian subway, had been discussed for years, he said, and he was impatient for action. Some work had been done. An open courtyard had been reported to the council as a proposal last February. Everyone he had spoken to had supported the scheme, Cr. Guthrey said. The sooner the engineer could go overseas, the sooner the council could get on with the job. While he was away he could look at other matters connected with parking buildings and the town hall.

“I don’t give a damn what it is going to cost,” Cr. Guthrey said. “The more it is going to cost the better it is going to be, and the more we are going to get in rents from it. It will be money well spent.”