Roading funds discussed

Press, 9 August 1976, Page 9

Roading funds discussed

A meeting will be arranged between the Paparua County Council and the Minister of Works and Development (Mr W. L. Young) to discuss the shortage of National Roads Board subsidies to meet the country’s basic ro-’ding requirements this year. The Minister of Transport (Mr McLachlan) told council representatives that he would ask Mr Young to come down to talk to the council about the matter. Mr McLachlan was one of three members of Parliament — the others were Miss C. E. Dewe (Lyttelton) and Mr M. A. Connelly (Wigram) — who met the council on Friday for discussion about matters affecting the administration and development of the countv.

They were told by the County Chairman (Mr J. Y. Pethig) that the council this

year had almost $70,000 programmed for roading expenditure on which no subsidy had yet been allocated. The council, Mr Pethig said, was short by almost $50,000 of Roads Board basic subsidy.

What particularly disturbed the council, said Mr Pethig, was that S2IM had been made available to the board by the Government, yet the council had received no additional allocation.

Mr Connelly said that he had already approached the Minister about the council’s needs but had not received a reply. When he had been chairman of the National Roads Board, it was estimated that between S4OM and SSOM was needed this financial year if the board was to carry out its work properly. On alternatives to Rolleston to cater for future urban growth in the area, Mr Mc-

Lachlan said that the Minister had told him that the Canterbury Regional Planning Authority expected to have prepared an interim regional development plan in about four months, and that a full one, for inclusion in the master regional plan, should be ready in about two years.

Cr A. Y. Shuker said that the cancellation of the Rolleston project had put sreat pressure on Paparua’s rural areas — some of the best farmland in Canterbury. He wanted to know if the Government was planning to do anything about strengthening the council’s powers “to stop the erosion of good farm land to the developer.” The existing Town and Country Planning Act did not give the necessary authority. Mr McLachlan replied that the act was being re-written, and was expected to be in the House “fairly shortly."