Lincoln land for housing

Press, 29 October 1977, Page 16

Lincoln land for housing

Sir, — The predicted grim prospects for the agricultural sector seem confirmed by the Lincoln College decision to engage in property speculation rather than farming. The sale of five hectares of some of New Zealand’s most fertile soils for residential development as a fund-raising scheme, subject to the district scheme’s rural zoning being changed, seems completely contradictory to the wise land-use practices which the college professes to teach. — Yours, etc., G. DENT. October 21, 1977. (The principal of Lincoln College, Dr J. D. Stewart, replies: “The land has already been zoned residential in the proposed Ellesmere District Scheme drawn up by the county’s consultants. The proposed subdivision plan is yet to be approved by the county. ‘Speculation’ usually means the purchase of an asset for the purpose of securing a quick profit. In fact the college has owned the land for a long time and would not have contemnlated subdivision if the district scheme had not drawn our attention to this possibility. The land, if the subdivision is anproved, is to be assigned to the Lincoln College Foundation, an independent charitable trust, the objective of which is to foster agricultural education on a national basis. We see this as a justification for the transfer of this land to residential use, especially as we believe the orderlv development of such townships as Lincoln is in the communitv’s interests. The college itself will not be a direct benefittian’ of the foundation.”]