Puriri Street bridge saved, meeting told

Press, 6 March 1984, Page 8

Puriri Street bridge saved, meeting told

The Puriri Street bridge has been saved, a Riccarton Borough Council works committee meeting was told last evening. The chairman, Cr R. S. Lester, said that because of co-operation between councillors and staff from Riccarton, and the Waimairi District Council, who have joint responsibility for the bridge, a solution to the bridge problem had been reached before it got to the stage where “people started to jump up and down.”

A report on a joint meeting over the bridge said that Riccarton councillors objected to a proposal to close the bridge because of possible structural damage.

The Riccarton councillors had argued that both councils had a duty to maintain what was obviously a convenient and well-used traffic route. They also objected to the suggested closing of the bridge without consultation with Riccarton and a full technical investigation of the cost of retaining it. The meeting had decided that there was no case for closing the bridge and that steps could be taken at a relatively low cost to strengthen it. The meeting agreed on a recommendation to both councils that the bridge should be retained for traffic, but with an appropriate weight restriction, and that coucil staff should report on the work needed. Cr Lester said that the Ricarton Borough’s share of the cost would be about $5OOO.

Cr J. W. Warren said that the problem was that two abutments on the bridge had been cracked for many years. No-one knew what reinforcing they continaed so no engineer could say how strong they were. The danger was that they would move outwards in a big earthquake, causing the bridge to collapse. However, the bridge could be strengthened with struts. The meeting was told that Waimairi staff regularly checked the bridge. How-

ever, the Riccarton Mayor, Mr R. W. J. Harrington, said that Riccarton should be doing its own checks on the bridge since it had joint responsibility.

Dust nuisance Legal proceedings to stop a dust nuisance from the Maddens and Richards coal yard should be put “in train,” the meeting recommended. The move comes after a series of complaints from residents living near the coal yard, most of them in Brockworth Place. A deputation of residents attended last evening’s meeting. The residents said that the council had resolved last December to start legal proceedings under the Clean Air Act and the Town and Country Planning Act. Mrs I. V. Kench, of Mayfair Street, said the dust

from the yard was intolerable and there were also problems with noise. The residents were ready to take their own legal action if the council did not.

A report to the meeting said that there had been years of effort to encourage the company to stop the dust nuisance. The council wanted regular sweeping of the ground to keep it free of coal dust, the erection of a 4m windbreak, and a water spray system to control dust

The long term solution to the problem was to put all coal handling and storage work under cover, it said.

The meeting was told that the company had already been issued with a building permit for the windbreak. Cr G. W. Hunt said the company should be given more time to comply with the request because it had made some moves to improve matters. However, Cr Warren said the council should go ahead with legal action because it could withdraw if the problem was solved. Council houses Rents on council houses and pensioner flats should be increased by the maximum allowed under the rent limitation regulations, which will apply after the rent freeze is lifted, the meeting decided. The increases, which will apply from April 1, range from 33c a week for a single pensioner unit to $1.50 for the most expensive council house.

Cr Hunt suggested that the rents for pensioner flats should not be increased, since the sum involved was so small. However, Cr Warren said that the council might be caught if further rent regulations were imposed. The units were running at a loss of $19,400 this year because of the freeze. The meeting also recommended that there should be a further review of council rents as soon as the regulations would permit