Building report queried by college

Press, 23 April 1984, Page 2

Building report queried by college

Lincoln College has taken issue with a report made to the Ellesmere County Council by the county’s planner about an application for building permits on the campus. Lincoln College applied to the council for permits to erect a still-air shed and two office blocks for the Agricultural Engineering Institute. The council resolved to approve the application subject to adequate provision being made for the disposal of sewage. The college was to be advised that connections to the Lincoln sewage treatment plant would not be available as a measure of fulfilling the council’s condition until the treatment plant was improved or replaced. For at least a year the council has had a policy of not approving new connections to the Lincoln sewage system. This policy was reflected in the recent council decision which allowed the D.S.I.R. and Ministry of Agricultural to build new premises, but not to connect them to the system. Before the council announced its decision on the latest Lincoln application, the college had already lodged an application with the North Canterbury Catchment Board for a water right to discharge from a septic tank, indicating that this was how it intended to get around the problem. The college’s registrar, Mr G. A. Hay, has written to the chairman of the coun-

cil, Mr W. E. Walker, saying that he thinks the council’s decision has not taken all factors into account.

Mr Hay asserted that some of the report by the county planner, Mr I. D. Dalton, consisted of a “gross misrepresentation of facts.” Mr Dalton had asserted that from the college calendar he had been able to calculate that the present staff of the N.Z.A.E.I. was 24, whereas the new building plans showed 29 offices, excluding meeting and other rooms. He had said there was no evidence to show that vacant rooms would not be taken over by staff from other organisations. “The simple fact is that vacant office space is invariably occupied,” Mr Dalton had concluded.

Mr Hay said in his letter that “the college calendar quoted by Mr Dalton only lists permanent full-time research and senior technical staff of the institute at both Hamilton and Lincoln. It does not record the names of other technical and clerical staff nor the names of research and other staff on limited-term appointments. “To assert that there is no evidence to show that vacated rooms may not be used by other organisations is a gratuitous comment which implies that the college’s letter of March 29, 1984, was not submitted to your council in good faith. This implication the college totally rejects,” the letter said.