Reprieve for Hagley Park

Press, 18 April 1980, Page 4

Reprieve for Hagley Park

Christchurch Drainage Board proposals for a bigger sewer to the Matai Street pumping station no longer call for an easement through a corner of Hagley Park. Board members yesterday welcomed the change. One public objection to the proposal had been received. The sewer line from the Fendalton Road bridge has to be renewed because it is unable to cope with severe storms, and sewage pours into the Avon River. The board’s chief engineer (Mr P. J. McWilliam) told the works committee yesterday that a new line through the park would cost about $7OOO less than the now-pro-posed line along the river side of Deans Avenue, but that cost difference was

much less than the earlier estimate of $17,909. He said that City Council conditions placed on work done while crossing the streets had caused a reassessment of the cost benefits of a line across parkland. “It is now apparent that the Hagley Park route will cause considerably more disruption to the public, not less as earlier thought,” he said- , x , , Disadvantages of the park route included damage to oak trees, disturbance of tree roots, and the bad effect on the board’s image of construction through the park. x , On the other route, only one poplar tree would have to be removed — and City Council officers had found that the tree was hollow and possibly dangerous.