Deans property plan approved by council

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33928, 22 August 1975, Page 10

Deans property plan approved by council

When the Waimairi County Council last evening approved of a residential subdivision of the three-quarters of an acre of land that the Riccarton Bush Trustees want to buy, doubts were cast on the historical significance of the land.

The trust wants Christchurch councils to combine to buy the land, said to be priced at $lOO,OOO. It has been said that the land is the site of the original Deans cottage, the first permanent building to be erected on the Canterbury Plains.

The meeting was told that inquiries by the council had failed to ascertain the exact location of the cottage, but that the site was thought to be marked by a plague on the trust’s land. The council had before it an application by J. and R. Deans to subdivide the land ■ into four residential lots, the chairman (Mr D. B. Rich) pointing out that the council was duty-bound to treat the scheme plan as it would any other. The council, said Mr Rich, could not make an exception because of the proximity of the land to Riccarton Bush,

or because of the possible purchase of the land for addition to the bush property. The County Clerk (Mr J. Reid) ■ reported that the option date for the trustees to buy the land had been extended to August 31. Their had been little success in trying to negotiate a sale of the land at the valuation price of $86,000.

The council approved the subdivision scheme plan, but asked that consideration should be given to the preservation of mature trees on one of the lots. The trees concerned were entered on the council’s preservation register.

It was agreed that, if satisfactory evidence was produced that the cottage was, in fact, on the land, the site should be excluded from the sale of the sections, ' and vested as a reserve. Mr Rich said the trustees had called a meeting of the councils for this morning ,to discuss the position.