Slip damage under study

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33966, 6 October 1975, Page 1

Slip damage under study

! The Government was ; already studying ways to provide wider compensation to property damaged by slips, the Minister of Works and Development (Mr Connelly) said yesterday.

But compensation was only part of the solution, and local authorities would have to provide better ways of preventing haphazard residential development in slipprone areas.

Mr Connelly made these comments after an inspection tour . of Christchurch suburbs hit by slips and flooding in August. He was accompanied by the Minister of Health and member of Parliament for Lyttelton (Mr McGuigan). “Clearly, there are particular geological problems in the Port Hills area that

neither local authorities nor private developers have fully appreciated in the past,” Mr Connelly said. He hoped that action now being considered by the North Canterbury Catchment Board to limit uncontrolled development in such areas would resolve future problems.

If the board adopted such procedures and they were approved by the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council, he would issue a public notice bringing the Catchment Board into any land-development proposals. “All intending developers will be required to seek the board's approval before proceeding with any action that will remove vegetation, disturb the soil by excavation, or interfere with the natural drainage pattern,” Mr Connelly said. The National Water and

Soil Conservation Authority is also looking at ways to improve development practices by a subsidy policy. This would provide financial incentives for local authorities to pursue more actively better land and water management planning. , It would also assist with , remedial works where problems have occurred because . of faulty practices or lack of knowledge. “Ultimately, It is up to local authorities who issue building permits to ensure that urban landslip damage , does not occur in the future,” Mr Connelly said. Since July, a committee has been considering ways to give wider Earthquake and War Damages Commission assistance for insured build-

ings. Some possibilities of extending landslip cover include authorising local authorities

'to set up a fund to meet the cost of repairing damaged sections. Mr Connelly said that such a fund might come from developers’ who build in danger areas. It was possible that the commission could meet the cost of moving a building “irretrievably threatened” by slips to another site provided by the property owner. There might also be a provision for an insured building "irretrievably threatened by landslip and a total loss constructively” to qualify under a claim as a material total loss, Mr Connelly said. The commission might also contribute towards the cost of section repairs to prevent damage, or further damage, to an insured building. Both Ministers visited Lyttelton, Sumner, Redcliffs, Mount Pleasant, Hillsborough, and Opawa on Saturday.