Shelly Bay bach ruling soon

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33981, 23 October 1975, Page 16

Shelly Bay bach ruling soon

Bach owners in Shelly Bay, on the south side of Lyttelton Harbour, are afraid of losing their baches eventually if a Ministry of Works and Development recreation reserve designation is placed over the premises they hold under annual licences. Their panel was adjourned to November 10 yesterday by the No. 2 Town and Country Planning Appeal Board because of a legal question—whether the bach land could be designated twice for the same purpose by different authorities. The 10 baches, on about half an acre, are already under a Mount Herbert County Council designation as proposed recreation reserve, without the imminent

threat of owners having to get rid of their premises. Mr B. A. Barrer, counsel for the appellants, said the M.W.D. designation covered about 75 acres along the shoreline, from Camp Bay to Purau. If the bach designation were lifted, “the public would be deprived of sitting on one-half acre of grass out of some 75 acres,” he said. Public access to the beach along the bach frontage would not be impeded. The baches were built originally by the Lyttelton Yacht Club in the early 19305. Mr Barrer said that bach owners would testify that they were performing “a valuable and public service free of cost to the community in a number of ways, including fire fighting, rescues, and providing facilities for people in difficulty on Lyttelton Harbour.”