Big housing settlement?

Press, 4 August 1981, Page 6

Big housing settlement?

Paparua County councillors are worried about the number of houses that maybe put on a new Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries research farm to be built at Lincoln.

The Ministry has written to the council’ asking for a block of land on Boundary Road to be zoned for research purposes. It is zoned rural at present.

The research farm would be the regional headquarters for the Ministry in the northern half of the South Island, and would include advisory and administrative services. The farm would cover 115 ha. about a third of which was in the Paparua County. The rest of the land is in the Ellesmere County.

The letter said that there would be four main buildings in the complex, a store for dangerous chemicals and other outbuildings. The farm land would be used for experiments. About 100. staff were expected to work on the site. Because it is a Government department, the Ministry could require the council to change the zoning, said the County Clerk (Mr B. L.

Mooar) last evening. Councillors were worried that a big housing settlement could be put on the site.

The councillors asked the staff to discuss the matter urgently with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Scheme review

The proposed review of the Paparua County Council's district planning scheme was tabled at a meeting of the council.

The period for objections to the scheme has been extended until November 27 and copies of the 200-page booklet are available for $12.50 each. Appointment

Mr A. S. Malcolm has been appointed to the Hornby District Community Council to fill the vanancy left by the resignation of the former chairman. Mr J. C. Wilson. Nine nominations were received for the seat. A petition signed by 47 people asked that a bv-election be

held as an appointment had already been made to the council and as there was more than one nomination. Councillors felt a by-elec-tion would be too costly. Mr Malcolm was appointed on a show of hands. Same name

A meeting of the Rural District Council had been asked to change the name of Maddisons Road, because of confusion between Maddisons Road in Paparua County and another road of the same name in the Ellesmere County.

A letter to the council said that an ambulance called to a fatal accident had been delayed for 10 minutes while the driver had to find out which road was the correct one.

The Ellesmere County Council has declined to change the name of its Maddisons Road because of its historical associations. It felt there was a breakdown of communications between the telephone operator who took the emergency call and the ambulance driver. The Rural District Council

chairman (Mr A. Y. Shuker) said he would not be happy to see a change in the name of the Maddisons Road in the Paparua County. Tree removal The Sockburn District Community Council has decided to adopt a progressive programme to remove trees in eight streets in Sockburn. The council had considered a report recommending the removal of all the trees, but decided on the programme spread over several years after a complaint from a resident who said the trees were an asset to the area.

The district council chairman (Mr E. C. Britnell) said it was Paparua County council policy not to plant trees in berms. Their roots and branches caused problems with overhead and underground services. The council also agreed to start a suitable tree replacement programme. They decided it would be Sockburn District Council policy to plant trees in berms only as replacements for ones that had been removed.