End of an eyesore

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32849, 24 February 1972, Page 1

End of an eyesore

A vacant lot at the comer of Armagh and Madras Streets which has been an eyesore for more than two years will soon be cleaned up.

The property has been sold to a company which plans to build an office block on the site as soon as all formalities have been dealt with. The 24 perch section has for years been the subject of complaints by adjacent property owners, and even from passers-by. The proprietors of the Winter Garden, Ltd, complained to the Health Department about the rats and mice which infested an empty house on the site. When this was pulled down, the section became overrun with weeds, the seeds of which blew into neighbouring properties and sprouted.

The land was the property of the estate of Terence and Mary Kerin, and was sold last October subject to the new owners obtaining authority from the Companies Office to as a profit-making organisation. The date of possession is March 27, after Which the new owners will have an office block built. Asked yesterday what the Christchurch City Council could do about the state of the section, the chief health inspector (Mr A. P. Millthorpe) said it could serve notice on the owners to remove the flourishing growth of thistles.

Improving of signs.—The Christchurch Metropolitan Road Safety Committee will ask local councils to improve street names at intersections so that they can be seen more clearly.