The Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1968. Urban Renewal Is Still “Urgent”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31785, 16 September 1968, Page 14

The Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1968. Urban Renewal Is Still “Urgent”

This evening the Christchurch City Council will receive a report on the meeting last week between the Mayors of Auckland, Wellington, and Dunedin, a deputy of the Mayor of Christchurch, and the Minister of Housing, Mr Rae, on the renewal of decayed or decaying urban areas. Cr M. R. Carter, who attended the meeting on behalf of the Mayor, has long been an advocate of the renewal by civic action of blighted areas of Christchurch. He was a member of the study group which produced a report two years ago on the subject and which urged the Minister to take urgent action to assist municipalities in this sphere. The meeting last week was obviously a lively exchange of opinions. Although Mr Rae assured the deputation of Mayors that he would propose to the Cabinet a plan for financial support for the councils, the deputation was not satisfied with the Government’s interest in their appeal for action. The Government and local bodies can repair the situation by acting swiftly. Fortunately there have always been some councillors in the four main cities —the only cities in which the problems are serious—who have kept interest alive. Wellington has pushed ahead bravely with a large rehousing scheme. Christchurch embarked several years ago on an inner-city reclamation scheme in its Salisbury Street scheme. It is now timely for the Christchurch City Council to give whole-hearted support to efforts to establish a progressive and continuous programme of reclamation.

Such a programme must rest on assured financial support from the Government. Last year the Government allocated nearly $BO million to new housing throughout the country by way of the State’s own housing construction, loans, subsidies, and the capitalisation of family benefits. It is the compelling and long-understood argument of the four cities that much new’ housing is not being built where it is most needed, nor where full advantage can be taken of existing transport, electricity, sewerage, drainage, and roading services, not to mention existing social amenities and employment. Instead, new houses have been built on the fringes of the cities at enormous social cost while the rational redevelopment of inner-city areas—often relatively small pockets of poor housing surrounded by good areas—has been neglected for the want of legislative authority and adequate funds. The Housing Improvement Act needs refurbishing; the city councils should have access to loan money at rates of interest which permit urban renewal schemes to compete fairly with the seemingly cheaper urban snrawl: and, for administrative convenience, one Government department should be appointed to embrace all the State’s interests in renewal schemes. This requires the Government's recognition of the value of renewal as a substitute for urban sprawl; it requires the allocation of part of the State’s housing expenditure to building on areas reclaimed and subdivided by the councils; it requires a more certain and, perhaps, more generous State subsidy to help the councils meet the cost of buying land from which the so-called “improvements” must be removed and of reselling the land, or letting new buildings on it, at a fair market price.

Mr Rae said last week that he had justifiably delayed acting on the study group’s report w’hile he awaited public comment and reaction. The organisations most interested in the subject were represented on the committee which prepared the report. The Mayors of the four largest cities gave Mr Rae their views nine months ago. It is difficult to imagine who else might have produced comments of such importance that the Government would have felt compelled to reject or seriously modify the proposals. The nature of the problem of urban decay in Christchurch is such that it can be easily overlooked by most citizens: yet the problem is very real. It is capable of solution only by a steady programme of property purchases by the council. The ideals of town planning will be served if the areas are redeveloped by local and central Government and private enterprise, acting concertedly. The result should then be a cohesive reconstruction of blighted areas which, under the present ownership, have no hope of either restoration or renewal. The council knows from experience that the job can be done: and its renewed efforts should be delayed no longer.