No Catchment Board word on ‘slip danger’

Press, 4 October 1977, Page 2

No Catchment Board word on ‘slip danger’

Detailed plans of the proposed residential subdivision above Chorley Place had not been sighted by the North Canterbury Catchment Board, and so no decision could be made on the proposal. The chairman of the soil conservation committee (Mr H. D. Grigg) said that no approval for the subdivision could be given by the board until the detailed plans had been received. “We cannot express an opinion on the scheme, or give a warning until we know where they plan to put the road,” he said.

Mr Grigg’s comments were prompted by newspaper reports quoting residents of Chorley Place in St Martins, who were fearful of

large landslides coming off the subdivision and on to their properties. The residents were also asking for protection for buyers of sections in the subdivision. The chief soil conservator (Mr R. D. Dick) had received an application from St Martins Enterprises, Ltd, for a permit to excavate on the site. No action had yet been taken on the application which had been referred to the Heathcote County Council and the Christchurch Drainage Board for comment. Mr Dick said that although there was good vegetation cover on the site there was extensive tunnel gully erosion beneath the surface of the hill.

The engineers who were

preparing the plans for the subdivision were consulting with the board’s engineers, but the completed plans would have to be submitted before the board could comment on them, said Mr Dick after the meeting.