‘Growth point’ study urged

Press, 29 July 1976, Page 19

‘Growth point’ study urged

Rangiora should not become a stop-gap 'growth point" to absorb population while regional centres for expansion were being determined, the Rangiora Borough Council has decided. The council confirmed a recommendation from Royds, Sutherland and McLeay, its consulting engineers, who had studied the indicative plan produced recently by the Canterbury Regional Planning Authority. The council will ask the authority to give urgency to the study of where “growth points” are likely to occur. The engineers told the council the plan indicated that Rangiora was one of the areas considered for further growth. “Policies concerning further growth in Rangiora have been formulated, and major works such as water supply and sewerage have been planned to match this increased growth,” the engineers said.

“Thus any plan to extend Rangiora comes within the definition of a principle growth point. “However, no factual definition of a growth point is given in the report, and it is difficult to determine if the borough is one of the points the R.P.A. has in mind,” the letter said. The only way to determine this was to agree with the principles and policy set out in the report and ask the R.P.A. to give urgency to the question of determining where the principle “growth points” were likely to occur. “The borough has done planning and stated policies, but its service boundaries are in effect subject to any change or appeal that may result from the county scheme,” the engineers said. “Any change in policy a regional basis would have an important bearing on Rangiora’s growth and, more important, its growth rate.”