Aid for home-owners

Press, 16 September 1976, Page 6

Aid for home-owners

The District Commissioner! of Works in Christchurch (Mr i P. F. Reynolds) has written to j the M.P. for Lyttelton (Miss:: Colleen Dewe), outlining theh assistance available to people l : whose homes are threatened" by slips, as in the case of Mr i S. Schenkel’s Hawkhurst 1 Road house. 1

Mr Reynolds said that every case involving either local authority assets or urban development must be

referred to the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council for approval. There was no firm policy, and each case was decided upon its merits. There was no fixed) subsidy rate.

Protective works can be initiated by application to the authority responsible for soil) conservation in the area,) which will arrange to prepare an appropriate scheme, obtain official approval, and do the work, provided that the local share of the cost is guaranteed for the preparation and carrying out of the scheme, he says. The Ministry of Works and Development is the approoriate authority in Lvttelton and the whole of Banks PenHowever, the Catchment Board can undertake all its soil conservation functions in the rest of its area, provided all the cost is borne by the applicants, apart from the subsidy available. Catchment boards are bet-

Iter suited to this work than •the Ministry. In areas under the control i of the North Canterbury ; Catchment Board, therefore, • applications for soil conservation works should be directed to the board. In Lyttelton and other areas of Banks Peninsula, application

should be made to the Ministry, although the local authority can approach the board by agreement.

“Considering the case in I Hawkhurst Road,” Mr Rey- | no Ids said, “the most satisfactory remedy is to prepare [an over-all conservation scheme, to protect not only this house but others which

have been affected in the (past. To do this, the only | authority able to make an lapproach and guarantee the I local share is the borough. “I - have suggested to the ; borough that it should consider making an approach to (the catchment board, to prepare a scheme by agreement. (The board would then negotiate with the landowner on i whose land the slips are I occurring.” ; Miss Dewe has commented on a report in “The I Press” yesterday in which (she was quoted as saying (that “an engineer would come down from Wellington ;in the next day or so to inspect the hillside.” Miss Dewe said that this was not correct. “I did say ‘that I was concerned that any- excavations could

aggravate a problem on a very unstable soil base, especially in its present condition, and that I would like an engineer to investigate and report to the council first before any clearance work was carried out,” she said. “I then said I knew of an engineer who would be capable of doing such an evaluation, and would approach him. I did not have an official works and development engineer from Wellington in mind.”