STATE FLATS OFFER

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33067, 7 November 1972, Page 20

STATE FLATS OFFER

When the Paparua County Council last evening again discussed the Government’s offer to sell to it the pensioner flats at Church Corner, it was decided to get an estimate of the cost involved in bringing the flats up to an acceptable standard, and for maintenance charges. The chief building inspector (Mr T. J. Bridges) and the health inspector (Mr G. W. L. Fairhall) reported on the 42 flats, saying the capital value was $104,400, and the 54 tenants comprised 11 married couples, two widowers. one spinster and 29 widows. There was a waiting list of 160. of which 23 were urgent, for the 79 State units in Christchurch. In most units, the attached vegetable garden was an embarrassment to the tenants. A limited number of additional units could be built on the site.

They said the flats would have to be redecorated inside and out There had been no set interior redecoration programme, and the work had only been done as a result of tenant pressure, or by the tenants themselves. The tiled roofs needed testing, and rafters had deflected. If the council took over, said the inspectors, it might be desirable for the council to employ a painter, who could work successively on these units, as well as the council flats.