Council told to decide

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33965, 4 October 1975, Page 1

Council told to decide

The Christchurch City Council has been ordered to lift the motorway designation from a property in Park Terrace, or to take the land under the Public Works Act if it intends to proceed with a motorway. The ultimatum came from the No. 2 Town and Country Planning Appeal Board, which gave the council three months to make up its mind and act. The property is that at 78 Park Terrace, shown in the photograph below. The order was the result of an appeal by the owners of the property, who said that they had been unable to find a satisfactory sale for the' land and house because of the designation. Half an acre The land — a little more than half an acre on which there is a two-storey house — is designated for a motorway under the operative district scheme, which makes provision for a new traffic route between Fendalton Road and Avonside Drive. The proposed route of the motorway became known as the “road through the park” — an allusion to the diversion of Harper Avenjie through Hagley Park.

The appeal was heard on August 13, the applicants being D. H. Hall and G. J. Brebner, the executors and trustees of the will of Mr A. R. Harris. Mr Harris’s widow, Mrs A. M. Harris, has a life interest in the property, but because of her age (she is 85) the trustees found it necessary to buy a smaller and more convenient house for her. This, in turn, made it necessary to dispose of the property at 78 Park Terrace. Evidence accepted In its decision, the appeal board said that evidence before it established that it had not been possible to dispose of the property either by private treaty or public auction. “The board accepts the evidence to this effect, put forward by the applicants, and also that they are suffering financial difficulties because of the inability to sell the property,” the decision said.

“There is no doubt that the inability to sell the property at a reasonable price is due to the existence of the motorway designation over it,” the decision said. Members of the appeal board were Messrs K. O. Stephens (acting chairman), A. B. Thomson, H. M. Besley, and R. J. Calvert.