St, Albans Objectors To Motorway

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31975, 30 April 1969, Page 14

St, Albans Objectors To Motorway

An objection lodged by the St Albans branch of the Labour Party to the proposed motorway in the Master Transport Plan was supported by a vote at a public meeting in the Winston Street Hall last evening.

The objection was lodged before objections closed on April 11.

The meeting of St Albans residents was called by the branch because no other organisations had done so, said the chairman (Mr H. Keerie). It was intended, in spite of this, that the meeting be free of politics, he said. Attended by about 200 middle-aged and older residents, the meeting approved a motion: “that this meeting of St Albans citizens considers that the purchase price of any property required for the motorway should be the market value of the property at the date before the route of the motorway was decided, plus a percentage based on the average increase in property values in the city of Christchurch since that date. Compensation on individual merit should be paid in addition to the purchase price.” Mr Keerie said that the motorway affected all people living in the St Albans area. “We had hoped that some Independent body would have called a meeting like this but when we found no-one had we decided to do so," he said. “We want to know if you people are happy with the proposed motorway through here. If you are. we will be satisfied.” Mr Keerie said he believed the people of Christchurch and not just St Albans should have been fully informed about the proposed motorway. There was nothing to have stopped the City Council from sending out an explanatory booklet with the rate demands. No-one knew how many millions of dollars the scheme would ultimately cost.

The member of Parliament for Christchurch Central (Mr R. M. Macfarlane), speaking as a member of the City Council, said that not enough publicity had been given to the motorway and only re-

cently had people begun getting interested in it. He said he believed the whole scheme needed reexamining. There was some uneasiness among the planners and there might be a similar uneasiness among city councillors. Mr Macfarlane suggested that a deputation should be sent to the City Council to see if it would change its attitude to the motorway. “I am firmly of the opinion that it is entirely wrong to construct a major motorway through the centre of the city,” he said. Mr H. Denton said the public should be 100 per cent wise as to what was going to happen with the motorway. “No one but a foci would say

that a master plan is not wanted and no one but a fool would agree to us going haywire but that is what we are doing.” he said.

It would be at least another eight years before the motorway reached Bealey Avenue, so it was not too late to take action.

A speaker from the floor said he was ashamed tot think that the city had coun-j cillors prepared to turn the | people out of the district' “You put them in and yeti most of them live in Waimairi. I believe the city will be destroyed by the northern outlet,” he said. He said he was quite sure that some people would not get enough for their properties to pay for ownership flats. Another man said he was living in an unsaleable property. “Today it will not bring the price it would have in 1960. My only hope is selling it to the National Roads Board "

Mr W. G. Carpenter said he personally had not heard of anyone who had been dissatisfied with the price offered for their home. While he personally opposed the motorway he felt it was not enough just to criticise. To be constructive one should have alternatives to what one was criticising. A schoolmaster said there had been very little investment in St Albans since the talk of the motorway. If it became a depressed area Government valuations could be affected. A committee of seven residents was formed to deal with whatever it felt was necessary in relation to the motorway.

In reply to a questioner who asked for some guide for the committee, Mr Keerie said committee members would have to decide among themselves. If he volunteered advice it might be misconstrued as political interference.

The committee comprises Messrs M. Cook, W. G. Carpenter, R. P. Jones, L. Lang, V. E. Mabey, H. D. Jansen and H. Keerie.