Wording change sought

Press, 14 December 1983, Page 9

Wording change sought

Different wording on a hearing panel’s Radio Rhema facilities decision is sought by the Christchurch City Council. Cr Mollie Clark, a panel member, told the council that the decision shoud more accurately reflect the panel’s determination to make planning permission temporary. Radio Rhema had sought planning consent to extend the use of its temporary building at 77 Glenfield Crescent, Mairehau. Five residents objected to the proposal. They said that their objections would be met by removal of the temporary building, a reduction in the scale and hours of the activity, or removal of the entire radio enterprise from Glenfield Crescent. When the council first

gave its consent in 1969 for the Gospel Radio Fellowship to establish a radio station in the street, a small-scale local business that would create little neighbourhood impact was foreseen. A vacant church hall was to be put to efficient use.

Since that time, the radio station had expanded rapidly. The recommended panel decision said, “In its present form, Radio Rhema has developed into a high-profile activity which has become incongruous with its residential surroundings and tended to reduce those qualities and conditions which normally contribute to the pleasantness of the neighbourhood.”

Panel members had initially leaned towards the

idea of refusing the application completely. They thought it would be preferable to give Radio Rhema time to find other premises in a more appropriate zone. The suggested decision said that extension of the temporary building’s use should be granted for only two years. The decision said, “The members expressed surprise that an organisation such as Radio Rhema should have so consistently failed to comply with previous council requirements relating to the use of the subject site and had displayed such an evident disregard for the right of residents in the vicinity to the peaceful and undisturbed enjoyment of their properties.”