‘Arrogant’ chop to hearings on planning bill

Press, 12 November 1977, Page 6

‘Arrogant’ chop to hearings on planning bill

PA Wellington, The handling of the Town and Country Planning Bill; has drawn an outcry from' angry environmentalists. A decision by the Parliamentary select committee studying the bill to curtail( hearings on submissions has' been challenged. The chairman of the Envi-I ronment and Conservation' Organisations of New Zea-; land (Dr I. Prior) called the! committee’s action “an arro-, gant and retrograde way of dealing with the situation.” Environmentalists and other responsible groups and individuals were deeply con-! cerned that the committee had heard about 46 of the. 200 submissions. E.C.0., represents a big section of the country’s en-j vironmental movement, and' includes such affiliated nat-| ional organisations as the , Forest and Bird Protection: Society. the Federated: Mountain Clubs, the Deers- j talkers’ Association, the In-j Road Federation Mr J. S.- Callaway, of' Christchurch. has been; elected national president of| the Road Federation. Mr! Callaway is an executive! member of the Nos 13 and’, 14 district roads councils and; is serving a second term asj president of the Canterbury-! West Coast branch of the: Contractors’ Federation. |i

rstitute of Architects, and the 'National Council of Women. i Dr Prior said that groups 1; which wished to make submission to the committee 1 were given only short notice ito prepare their case. I “Now to go ahead and not J hear ail those who have I made submissions would I seem a negation of public ; participation in this important area,” he said. j Several groups and IndiI viduals had criticised “bad features” in the bill. i “It wouF" be much wiser to put off this bill’s passage 'until next year when the 'necessary modifications cani jbe carried out, rather than rush in through Parliament like this.” The Minister of Works |(Mr W. L. Young) had been! i“very eager” to have the ; legislation enacted this session. ‘ The legislation was com- | plicated and there had been ; difficulties in drafting it. If lit were rushed through as ■proposed, amendments . would have to be made later. i The bill is the first full reI view of the Town and CounI try Planning Act since it j was passed 24 years ago. The Government-appointed {New Zealand Planning Counicil attacked red tape and I inconsistencies in the bill in I a recent eight-page report lon the bill. ; The report cited potential i difficulties in which district land regional government! I representatives faced I i conflicts of interest.