Slips on the Port Hills

Press, 7 September 1976, Page 20

Slips on the Port Hills

The troubles being suffered by some Lyttelton residents as soil slides off the slopes above the town and threatens their homes is a reminder that many houses on the Port Hills are endangered by slips. When protective work has to be done, the landowner or local bodyshould approach either the Catchment Board or the Ministry of Works and Development and the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council for advice. In some circumstances financial help in the form of subsidies may be obtained. Landowners or local authorities must identify the problem areas and request assistance, although, in practice, the staff of catchment boards in particular are on the look-out for such problems. The member of Parliament for Sydenham (Mr Kirk) recently took the Minister of Works (Mr W. L. Young) to task for the situation in Lyttelton on the ground that the Ministry of Works had failed to take the necessary action to check the slips. The Ministry had already given such advice as it was equipped to give, and Mr Young was right to shift part of the blame, at least, back on to the shoulders of the local body—in this instance the Lyttelton Borough Council. The slopes of the Port

Hills north of their crest are within the North Canterbury Catchment Board’s soil conservation district. The board has more officers trained in soil conservation than the Ministry of Works has in the area and, as a locally elected body with specific responsibilities, the board is apparently better able to attend to local erosion problems. If there are problems above Lyttelton, they exist partly because the Lyttelton Borough Council has failed to give the board responsibility for solving such problems. A meeting is to be held in October to discuss the stability of soil on the Port Hills. Technical problems may dominate the discussion at this meeting, but the problems of administration and organisation should also be on the agenda. Divided responsibility for soil conservation on each side of the Port Hills, and on the rest of Banks Peninsula, appears to be impeding the proper planning of development on the hill country and the proper execution of remedial work where houses have already been built in unsuitable places. It would clearly be better if the whole of Banks Peninsula were under the charge of the North Canterbury Catchment Board for the purpose of soil conservation.