Too many proposed planning areas — R.P.A. chairman

Press, 22 September 1978, Page 3

Too many proposed planning areas — R.P.A. chairman

Regions foreseen by the Local Government Commission — and the one before it — are simply too small to co a good job of regional planning, according to the Canterbury Regonal PlanJP, ng _ Authority’s chairman (Mr D. B. Rich). They might suit other local government needs, he said last evening, but they would not provide a sufficient planning base. Both Mr Rich and the Regional Planning Association’s vice-chairman (Mr T M Inch) will talk to the Associate Minister of Finance (Mr Templeton) in Wellington today about their views. “The Government should change the legislation if it is

serious about regional planning on a national basis,” Mr Rich said. A previous discussion had also been held with the Minister of Local Government (Mr Highet). The former Local Government Commission had envisaged 19 regions, and it was believed that the present commission might be considering as many as 30. There should only be six or eight over the entire country for planning purposes.

R.P.A. members have argued that a Canterbury region should run from the Conway River south to the Rangitata River. "If the country is fragmented into too many re-

gions, they will be too small for planning purposes,” Mr Rich said. Each would require staff and facilities, and small regions would not have a sufficient economic base to support them.

“Unfortunately, the planning function has been thrown into the local government melting pot,” Mr Rich said. “It has been confused with the whole issue of local government reform, which is another issue altogether.”

He said the R.P.A. was one of the few authorities in the country “with the experience to say what does work and what does not work in regional planning.”