Retirement plans unstuck

Press, 17 August 1977, Page 1

Retirement plans unstuck

A homeowner below landslide-prone Clifton Hill wonders how he—or anyone—can ever live safely again in a house that was hit by a wall of mud and debris in this winter’s heavy rain. Mr D. A. Presto, who bought the house at 262 Main Road only six months ago as a retirement home, said yesterday that shovelling out the mud from inside and outside the house w’ould be finished this week.

wall which had been under tremendous pressure from the slide piled against it. But no matter what repair work the commission does, “we wouldn’t go back to live there,” Mr Presto said. “It is not safe.”

of further slips and rock falls. There is no obvious alternative route for the track past the slip. No council work can be

done to stabilise the slip proper, because it is on private property, and the council cannot spend money there.

Water is still draining off the hill and into the back yard of the home where Mr Presto hoped to retire next year. His family was in the house when the first slip came crashing through the kitchen windows.

The work is being paid for bv the Earthquake and war Damage Commission, which must now decide how much repair work will be provided.

“Apparently, nobody is going to do anything about the slip,” he said. “The cost would be phenomenal for a private person.”

If the final commission report said that the slip was still unsafe, Mr Presto said the house would not only be dangerous to live in but hard to sell. The Taua Mahi Trust will begin to fix Mulgans Track this week. Mr Presto said that work would dislodge more debris on to his property. “They cannot help it coming down again,” he said.

However, the commission is not allowed to do work that would reduce the possibility of future damage to the property, at the base of the steep slope. The landslide is the same one that ruined part of Mulgans Track, directly above Mr Presto’s house. Mr Presto said the house had been built in 1920, and as far as he knew, there had never been a similar slip. But this winter’s damage had left exposed dirt and boulders that could come down at any time. The Earthquake and War Damage Commission now has to assess the damage to the house, which is considerable, including cracks in a thick stone

A soil-stability expert has told the Christchurch City Council there is a danger of further slips, but has said there is no immediate risk of the clearing work’s being subject to danger. Mulgans Track has been opened again, but with signs at each end warning