Environmental study on Lansdowne issue

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33063, 2 November 1972, Page 16

Environmental study on Lansdowne issue

He had been informed by the Prime Minister (Mr Marshall) that the Commissioner of the Environment would make an environmental impact study of the proposal to put an Electricity Department substation in the Lansdowne Valley, before any final decision on the matter was reached, said Mr J. P. G. Blumsky, National Party candidate for Lyttelton, at a meeting in the Halswell Hall last evening. Mr Blumsky was addressing the meeting called by the Lansdowne Valley Investigating Committee. He said he had received the message from Mr Marshall late yesterday afternoon.

Mr Marshall had said that if the Paparua County Council decided in favour of the sub-station being sited in Lansdowne Valley, the enviromentai impact study would be made before any decision was made by the Government.

It was pointed out at the meeting that the Crown (Electricity Department) was not bound by any town-planning decision and that any decision by the Paparua County Council could be the subject of an appeal to the Town and Country Planning Appeal Board.

Mr I. G. B. Wilson, chairman of the Christchurch Civic Trust, who was invited to attend the meeting, said it was also pointed out that the appeal board had recently declined to give a decision in a similar type of case.

“However, it seems clear from Mr Marshall’s message that if the Lansdowne Valley site is favoured by the Paparua County Council, any decision will depend on a proper environmental impact study,” Mr Wilson said, after the meeting.