Mayor calls for ‘restructuring’

Press, 9 May 1980, Page 4

Mayor calls for ‘restructuring’

’ More priority should be given to restructuring local bodies rather than emphasising regionalism and the setting up of new councils, the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr Hamish Hay) ,told the Planning Institute’s' annual conference yesterday. Town planning would have been greatly simplified }n the Christchurch metropolitan area if the Local Government Commission’s proposal of a unified urban centre had been approved, he said. It was not in the city’s best interests for planning policies to differ from one council to another. Some zoning decisions for commercial and industrial areas, particularly those allowing the establishment of suburban shopping centres, would probably be different under

one local body. “The fewer levels of government we have the better and the simpler the system the better it will be understood by the average citizen,” said Mr Hay. Less time of councillors and officers would be taken up with liaison “and the inevitable paper war between the various levels.”

He was pleased that the conference would discuss unemployment and what planners could do about easing it. “I don’t want to see us trying to plan for every possible eventuality, with greatly added costs to both taxpayer and ratepayer,” he said, “But some of these basic economic issues do require very close study and action at a national level.”