Non-registration of youth centre queried

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32589, 24 April 1971, Page 18

Non-registration of youth centre queried

It was a purely technical evasion, said the chairman (Mr E. R. Radcliffe) when the Mount Herbert County Council was told in a solicitor’s letter received at its meeting yesterday that the Governor’s Bay premises of the Christchurch Special Class After-Care Society did not have to be registered under the council bylaws.

The society’s solicitor said that the society could not be bound by the by laws, because it was exempt from them by virtue of the fact that the society occupied Crown property and the use to which it was put was authorised by the Crown.

It was a case of a Government department altering the use of the land, said Mr Radcliffe. The property was the Old school which had been converted to a youth hostel and recreation camp. The council had never been consulted.

“It is very disappointing that the society has seen fit to take this line,” he said. “The purpose of the by-laws is to protect the people using such premises in respect of health and fire hazards. “There is no profit in this for the council, but it is a valid responsibility of the council to protect users to control conditions through by-laws.” Cr M. D. A. Radcliffe said that the facilities such as the septic tank provided for a small school were not adequate for their present use. The property was used for other purposes than as la youth camp. | The society had also done

illegal, sub-standard alterations, he said. It was decided to ask Mr I. M. McGuigan, M.P. for the district, to look into the question. The council last month told the society that it would lose the premises unless application was made for registration.