EXPLANATION BY DEVELOPER

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33215, 3 May 1973, Page 20

EXPLANATION BY DEVELOPER

The aim of the Reid Development Company, Ltd, in its subdivision at Ashley Downs is “to meet the pressing demand for people who want to live in the country, but do not want or need an economic farming unit to do so.”

The managing director of the company (Mr J. D. C. Reid) said this yesterday, commenting on a report of the Rangiora Borough Council lodging an objection to his company’s application to subdivide 287 acres. “This sort of provision for such people, in our view, protects against fragmentation of economic farming units and enables the best agricultural land to be preserved for the best agricultural purposes,” he said. Mr Reid said his company was concerned that the reports should not lead to a misunderstanding by the public of the nature of the company’s application. The application involved proposed a division into 106 sections of an average size of 21 acres. “This particular area has been chosen for a number of significant reasons, including the outlook and its proximity to developing areas such as Rangiora. The suggestion of a new urban area is the opposite to the basic concept of the whole scheme. My company has no intention that, if the application is granted, there would be any further subdivision into smaller lots. This would defeat the whole purpose of the concept,” said iMr Reid.

“My company feels that what it is doing is being done in accordance with town planning principles, to meet a community need. It is quite wrong and unfair to think of it as a proposal for a new town or further urban development.”