Objections To Paparua District Scheme

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31976, 1 May 1969, Page 19

Objections To Paparua District Scheme

Land zoned rural A in the Paparua County district scheme came into the category of scarce top quality soils that needed to be protected from housing development, said Mr F. S. Robinson, senior planning officer of the Christchurch Regional Planning Authority.

Mr Robinson was appearing in support of the council’s toning of the land at a hearing of objections from farmers wishing to subdivide and owners of small sections who wished to build houses on them.

Only 3 per cent of the area of New Zealand was top quality soil, said Mr Robinson, and the land concerned

was capable of Intense use for a wide variety of crops. By the turn of the century the New Zealand population was expected to have doubled, and this would greatly increase the demand for produce for home consumption. In Christchurch this produce would have to be supplied from the better soils on the fringes of the urban area.

Mr Robinson said the council was required to protect such land from undesirable encroachment, under town planning legislation. But some farmers who gave evidence to the council’s town planning committee claimed that their land was too small to be farmed economically and others said their land was too wet. “This is meant to be a free country,” said Mrs L. J. Sparks, of 200 Cashmere Road, “and why should the Regional Planning Authority tell us what to do with our land once we have bought it. “Everybody’s out for dollars and cents, and town milk supply is the only way we can make the land pay. We don’t want to have to go on milking 365 days a year for the rest of our lives.” Her husband told the committee that his 58 acres was on the city boundary and only three miles from the Square. All services were available, and the land should be re-zoned residential. He said he was rated on the basis of the land’s potential. “Why should we be,” he asked, “if the potential does not exist?” Cr A. Y. Shuker, chairman of the committee, told objectors that it could be 12 months before the council announced its decision. He advised those who wished to build on land zoned rural A under the scheme to apply for specific departures from the scheme.

Sawmillers’ Association.— Officers elected at the annual meeting of the West Coast Sawmillers’ Association were: President, Mr J. F. Gilbert: vice-president, Mr L. M. Gillions; emergency committee, Messrs W. G. Bissell, M. W. Curtis, J. S. Chapman, R. G. Marston and T. A. Scrivener: secretary-treasurer, Mr P. M. Mac Shane; assistant secretary, Mr E. E. Mosley.