Foodbarn shift likely

Press, 11 May 1984, Page 4

Foodbarn shift likely

Sydenham’s Countdown Foodbarn, which has been the subject of a legal battle with the Christchurch City Council since 1981, may soon be shifted. J. Rattray and Son, Ltd, started trading from the site at 45 Battersea Street in spite of council planning advice that the supermarket could not be in an industrial zone. Now the Court of Appeal has upheld decisions by the High Court and the Planning Tribunal that supported the council’s stand, the town planning committee was told yesterday. The council had to enforce its District Scheme, and proceedings were under way against the company. Mr Tim Rattray, chief executive of Ballins Rattray, Ltd, said last evening that the company was negotiating for another site that would be “not far away from where we are now.” He could not say how soon a shift would occur. “There are still some ends to be tied up,” he said. The company has lost a series of appeals to obtain legal sanction for the supermarket, which has access from Battersea Street and Sandyford Street. City councillors were not told the details of the action being taken against Countdown, but were told that a report on what was happening would be made to the next committee meeting. “Something is coming to hand,” said Cr Helen Garrett, the committee chairman.