Hansen Park

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30856, 15 September 1965, Page 16

Hansen Park

Sir, —What is being done with Hansen Park? For long and weary years St. Martins residents were induced to tolerate the unsightliness, dirt, dust, smells, and vermin of the old Hawford road tip on the .solemn assurance of successive City Councils that they would be rewarded eventually with a fine and spacious park. There was even talk (by Mr M. J. Barnett) of a golf course. Large areas have been given over to housing and a year or two ago it narrowly escaped becoming a site for a school. Now the bulldozers are working there again. Making the park? Let the City Council state its intentions unequivocally. Plenty of residents in this district would treat a breach of faith by the council as a major election issue.—Yours, etc., ST. MARTINS.

September 8, 1965. [The chairman of the reserves committee of the Christchurch City Council (Cr. P. J. Skellerup) replies: "The council has on a number of occasions confirmed its intention to create a park on part of the old Hawford road rubbish tip. The total area is 33 acres and of this 244 acres has been set aside as a park of the future, already named Hansen Park in honour of Dr. D. E. Hansen. However, levelling and development must wait several more years, maybe 10 years or longer, to enable the settlement of rubbish to be completed. Experience at the old Lyttelton

street dump, Centennial Park, has shown that settlement takes years and is in fact still taking place there after levellling, a long time ago. 1 am as keen as the correspondent to see Hansen Park become ‘a fine and spacious park,* but premature levelling would prove costly to the ratepayers. The area set aside for a park has not yet been transferred to the reserves department from the works department and the bulldozing seen recently, was simply the spreading out of filling which had accumulated from various roal works, etc. No plans have as yet been prepared for the layout of Hansen Park, but the inclusion of a golf course is unlikely. The remaining 8j acres is also held by the works department and it is that area on the west side which was considered as a possible site for a secondary school. As the Education Board is now no longer interested, the council’s former plans, to develop the same as a housing area, still hold good, but like the area reserved for Hansen Park the filling must be allowed to settle. For my part I would strongly oppose any variation to original proposals.”]