COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL RESTRICTIONS ON SPENDING HIT MOTORWAY AND AIRPORT

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33628, 2 September 1974, Page 12

COMMENT FROM THE CAPITAL RESTRICTIONS ON SPENDING HIT MOTORWAY AND AIRPORT

(By

CEDRIC MENTIPLAY)

WELLINGTON, September I.—lt would be difficult to find signs <■: recession around Wellington. The capital appears to be experiencing . permanent building boom, in which the older buildings perennially gi\t way to modem giants of 20 storeys and more.

But beneath the surface there is a deepening feeling of frustration chiefly because of credit and currency restrictions. The building of large homes is being curtailed in areas where the high price of sections makemandatory the building of a house that is better than average. llk Wellington City Council has held up the issue of a building permit for . United States Embassy office building costing $1,500,000 in the Thorndoi residential area.

These are only echoes by comparison with the main decisions — the abrupt cutting off of the motorway, the long delay in the provision of a permanent terminal at Wellington Airport, and the much argued plan to turn Paraparaumu Airport into a farm and housing area.

Many of these decisions are closely related to attempts by the Minister of Finance (Mr Rowling) to reduce Government and other expenditure. They also result from the “lack of liquidity” of which financial experts have been complaining for the last six months. Wellington citizens have noted wistfully, however, that these restrictions on spending do not seem to apply to new Government and other multistorey construction.

For many years the massive Government office building which now houses the Treasury, Defence and other departments was known as “the Stout Street Skeleton.” Begun in the late 1920’5, it was left as a pile of rusting steel through the Depression and post-Depression years, and was finished not long before the Second World War.

Apparently the Government has no intention of leaving such hostages to economic fortune today. Even the decision to suspend work on the Wellington motorway is finding some justification, as meetings between the National Roads Board and the Wellington City Council succeed each other. Half a loaf The motorway decision roused a roar of protest when first announced but this has quietened down considerably. It was no more than coincidental that, just before the decision was made, the N.Z.B.C. screened a feature extolling the Mayor of Toronto for his action in “turning off” that city’s motorway.

\ This evoked some argument as to whether the Wei-J lington motorway was really j necessary; or whether it could have been built more cheaply and with less disturbance of residential property. As in Christchurch, there has been considerable displacement of people during the course of motorway i building, and a residue of I resentment has remained. 1 The massive concrete pylons which stalk across I the Thorndon railway yards j into the city represent pro-' gress to some. To others | they are merely an! enormous expense for mar-i gina! gain. Senior engineers! (some now retired) in the Ministry of Works have long favoured a seaboard motorway, running on reclaimed land around Wellington Harbour, and feeding at last into the Kent-Cambridge Terrace complex (which is the nearest thing Wellington has to a traditional big-city thoroughfare). Through the years the motorway has crawled southwards into Wellington’s most expensive footage. After much publicised encroachment on Old Wellington, including the Bolton Street Cemetery, it is making its way up the so-called Shell Gully, behind the multi-storeyed Terrace structures . . . It could have ended there. The plan now is for it to pass through a tunnel and turn into Ghuznee Street. From there, we are told, it will march by one-way streets to the Kent-Cam-bridge Terrace system but no further. Second-thinking Wellingtonians are beginning to realise that they have suffered little from the change. Unlike Christchurch, Wellington is open at only one end. The other rests on Cook Strait. There is no through traffic. Most of Wellington’s daily work-force comes from the north (the Hutt Valley, Wainuiomata, Porirua, Tawa). For them the motorway already gives full access. The “deprived” southern and eastern suburbs are tiny by comparison. But Wellington is still resentful at what it has lost. Airport problems Wellington’s airport is variously referred to as “the busiest in New Zealand,” and “a continuing disgrace.” When it was reoriented some 15 years ago under the Borgesen plan (an American concept) the existing de Havilland aircraft factory was made into a temporary terminal. Today more money has been spent on these build- 1 ings than they cost in the first place. The annual report of the National Airways Corporation (tabled in Parliament on August 27) describes their replacement as “New Zealand’s most pressing aviation need of today.” But the final blossoming of Wellington’s terminal fac- i

ilities depends on a partnerI ship between the GovernIment and the Wellington City Council. Finality ap- : peared to have been reached about two years ago, but the City Council decided to make another attempt to cut costs. Unfortunately the 'sharp rise in all manner of ; costs completely cancelled lout any savings made, and (still the permanent buildings ' have not been started. I Bitterest of all to many ’jhas been the decision by the ( present Government to close ! Paraparaumu Airport and ' sell its associated lands and lequipment. Paraparaumu. ( 1 some 35 miles north of Wellington (and in a slightly ' different weather pattern) ■ has long been the “other ' half” of Wellington’s twot airport scheme. I Closing opposed j The first Paraparaumu airstrip was established by > the Fraser Government as a j safe alternative landing area ; to Wellington Airport. It has ’ a useful proximity to Cook ; Strait, and has continued to 1 relieve the pressure on ’ Rongotai. It is still extensively used iby light aircraft without ' radio (which cannot fly mij ( Rongotai without being briefed). Last financial year, some 49,169 aircraft move- ■ ments were recorded it ! Paraparaumu in daylight 1 hours, compared with 31,870 ; in similar hours at Rongotai. ; (Rongotai’s all-hour traffic in 1973-74 was 80,802 movc- ! ments.). The objection to closing Paraparaumu is that the ' extra traffic would be con- ' centrated on Wellington’s 1 single overworked runway. Already the closing has produced one petition, which is now before Parliament. At least two more are expected. In his petition, Mr Duncan Campbell, editor and publisher of aviation magazines, 1 indicates the dangers if Paraparaumu is closed. He says that the Christchurch, Auckland, and Dunedin urban areas are all served by “general aviation airports” for aero clubs, gliding, ballooning and other activities, and that some 33 aircraft and 20 sailplanes are housed at Paraparaumu. The suggestion is that Paraparaumu should be closed and a new aerodrome be built at Te Horo (once suggested for jumbo jet freighters). This is regarded by Mr Campbell as unfair to private aircraft owners, aero club members, and the freight and aerial topdressing industries. He says it would not provide a real alternative to Rongotai in emergency. The petition will be heard but this does not guarantee remedial action. It does seem as if Wellington, having lost the full concept of its motorway, will also be condemned to a one-runway airport which by necessity will be labellei “for airliners only.”