British ties evoked

Press, 28 July 1976, Page 3

British ties evoked

By

JOHN HAGENAAR

The notion that New Zealand has, and should retain, a strong British heritage seems to have some solid foundations in rural parts of the Paparua County. On Monday at a meeting of the Paparua Rural District Council (a grouping of rural county councillors), Cr R. S. Mayer (Islington) said that it should be council policy to set aside a certain sum of money for each riding instead of pooling all funds in one account. “It’s only British justice,” he said. Yesterday, at a hearing by the county’s town planning committee of objections against proposed new rural zoning provisions, one objector put it even more strongly. In a one-sentence letter to the committee, Mr H. M. Reynolds, the owner of six acres and a quarter in rural Halswell, said, “Having been attached to His Majesty’s force in the Middle East, Africa, and

Italy for a period of four years and a half, I cannot believe that one’s heritage in the land of one’s own country can be so mauled.” The chairman of the committee (Cr A. Y. Shuker, Templeton): “Is that all?” The town planning officer (Mr P. Driscoll): “Yes, sir.” Cr J. S. Bisphan (Halswell Rural): “Well, I suppose it’s substantial enough.” The objection was one of 461 to the county’s proposed change number four being heard by the committee. There are 147 crossobjections. The hearings started on Tuesday of last week and are expected to continue until tomorrow evening. Uncompleted hearings are scheduled to be heard next Tuesday and on subsequent days if necessary. The main points objected to in the proposed change are new minimum rural subdivisions and new restrictions on building in rural areas.

The proposed minimum subdivisions are 100 acres for class one soils, 300 acres for class two and three soils, and 150 acres for irrigated class two and three soils. Generally, it is proposed to issue building permits in the rural areas only to people who comply with the new subdivision minima and the existing owners of smaller holdings who bought their properties before last March 2. This has the effect, say objectors, of sharplv reducing the value of smaller holdings should their present owners wish to sell them. New owners would not be eligible for building permits. The main cross-objector is the Canterbury' Regional Planning Authority, which says that the proposed controls are not strict enough. It particularly objects to the proposed building concessions to the existing owners of smaller holdings. The authority wants the controls to be tightened and to be included eventually in its own proposed Canterbury regional development scheme.