. . . And Hornby today

Press, 4 October 1977, Page 20

. . . And Hornby today

Today Hornby is the centre of thriving industrial development — several large businesses and manufacturers have the town as their base and more are moving out there.

Alex Harvey Industries, Limited, was one of the first companies to set up operations at Hornby and it is still developing its activities in the area —■ a $0.25M tile factory is planned by A.H.I. in the area. U.E.B. Industries are based at Hornby and Gough, Gough and Hamer are there, as well as Kempthorne Prosser’s plant.

G.U.S. Wholesalers, Ltd, has developed a large block with a variety of activities, and Watties Canneries, Ltd, is nearby. They are all big names in the Canterbury, and New Zealand, business world and they are just a number of the organisations that have decided on Hornby as a suitable spot for development. Hornby is a country town that has long lost its rural characteristics, even though it was initially a rural settlement. It is the closest urban

area to Christchurch and is within easy travelling distance to the city’s outlying residential suburbs so commuting is little problem for the many businessmen who travel there each day. There has been quite a move out there in the past five years — by business firms and manufacturers probably because it is one of the few areas near Christchurch city with industrial zoned land available for development.

The initial attraction of the area for commerce and industry, apart from the availability of land, was the fact that Hornby is easily accessible by arterial roads and rail. The Main Truck line runs through Hornby and there is no problem for manufacturers in freighting goods by rail. Not only is the town well served by arterial roads, the proposed Southern Motorway will be adjacent, passing Hornby one or two miles south of the Shands RoaaMain South. Road intersection.

However the growth in Hornby is not only in the industrial sector.'

Subdivision of land for housing" has been quite brisk in the past year or two and there is also quite a number of old homes in the town being renovated. A block of land on the corner of Carmen Road and Buchanans Road was recently opened up by the Housing Corporation of New Zealand who divided it into 340 residential sections. A private block of land in Buchanans Road is also marked for subdivision and it should provide another 150 sections. Most of these sections should be built on in the next 10 years.

Hornby still has room for both industrial and residential expansion. When the industrial sector is fully extended it will cover a very large area but it will be quite separate from the residential part of the town. Planners are determined that Hornby must not suffer the features of some of Christchurch’s industrial suburbs — and they are determined that Hornby will not be just another factory town.