Council warning on Ferrymead land

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32774, 26 November 1971, Page 10

Council warning on Ferrymead land

Any plans the Ferrymead Trust has for the expansion of its venture should be confined to the land it at present has an interest in either by way of title or leasehold.

This decision was reached by the Heathcote County Council last evening after the town-planning committee had reported that it had been asked to approve in principle of extensions at Ferrymead. The development scheme, the committee reported, was such that a person entering Ferrymead at Bridle Path Road would pass through a progression of eras—the Maori period, the early pioneering era and the museum stage to scientific displays. The car park off Bridle Path Road could be extended on the southern side of the proposed Ferrymead Drive, and the scheme included the council's rubbish dump land.

On the committee’s recommendation, the council agreed that it could not give any commitment as to the future use by the trust of additional council land, and any publicity connected with the proposals should not make reference to the use of this land. A sub-committee was set up to investigate the possibility of using land adjacent to Ferrymead for sports, and possibly for a golf course. The Lyttelton Borough Council wrote asking the council to contribute $9OO to the cost of extending a power line to the Ferrymead museum, but it was agreed that as the supply was the responsibility of the borough, the county council did not wish to interefere between it and its consumers. Social centre.— An offer from the City Council to let the county council have the old waterworks land at Hunter Terrace at a peppercorn rental for the site of a social and recreational centre was accepted, and the City Council was asked to prepare a lease.

Grant—A grant of $l5OO was authorised as the council’s share of a commuity centre to be built in Christchurch city at Huntsbury. Forestry.—Permission will be sought from the Forest Service for the council to plant a Bridle Path Road reserve in exotic and native trees, and the County Engineer (Mr F. K. Stone) was asked to investigate sites that could be bought for tree planting. Water pressure.—An assurance was given that water pressure in Avoca Valley would not be reduced when the new bottling plant of Ballins Industries, Ltd, is working at Port Hills Road.