Councillor criticises Lincoln sewerage appeal idea

Press, 26 July 1984, Page 18

Councillor criticises Lincoln sewerage appeal idea

Any more delays to the Ellesmere County Council’s proposal to improve the Lincoln sewerage system will mean that the council will not meet the summer construction period to build the oxidation ponds, says the County Engineer, Mr K.. J. Anderson. Mr Anderson told a council meeting this week that the North Canterbury Catchment Board inteded to appeal to the High Court against a Planning Tribunal decision on the discharge of sewage effluent into Lake Ellesmere. The tribunal’s decision allowed the council to discharge up to 1700 cu m of treated sewage effluent from a primary oxidation pond into the L2 river, which flows into Lake Ellesmere. The pond, which was part of the proposed sewerage scheme, would replace the existing system which was overloaded and subject to malfunction and high maintenance costs. A start could not be made on the scheme because of the Catchment Board’s decision to appeal, said Mr Anderson. • Cr P. J. Abbott said it was disturbing that the Catchment, Board had decided to appeal, particularly because of the costs involved. “This council saved Lincoln ratepayers about $350,000 through not having to build a; filtration plant,” he said. “Perhaps the cost of fighting this appeal could be brought home to the Catch-

ment Board. It is just bureaucratic nonsense that weshould have got into this state.” Even if the council won the appeal it would cost ratepayers money to fight it If the council lost ratepayers would have to pay the additional $350,000 plus the costs of fighting the appeal, said Cr Abbott tn light of the Catchment Board’s decision, the council declined an application by Lincoln College for the council to reconsider its decision not to allow proposed new buildings to be connected to the sewerage scheme. Septic tanks would have to be put in for the proposed Agricultural Engineering Institute buildings at the college until the sewerage scheme was improved, the council decided. Pool fencing A draft proposal on the fencing of private swimming pools was approved by the council and submitted for consideration as a bylaw at the August council meeting. No changes to the draft proposal were made by the council. Its purpose was to prevent unsupervised access to swimming pools by children under five years, said the draft.' 0 Under the by-law, all swimming pools will have to be completely enclosed by a fence not, less than 1.2 metres high which has a self-latching gate. The main exceptions are swimming pools more than

100 metres from a dwelling in rural zones and swimming pools not dug into the ground provided that ladders can be easily removed. Owners of swimming pools covered by the by-law will have to furnish’ an annual declaration that the fence and gate have been adequately maintained and are still installed in conformity with the by-law’s requirements. The draft proposal will be advertised for public submissions after the meeting in August and either approved or rejected at the council meeting in September. Playground Playground equipment behind the Plunket building at Dunsandel will be repaired and made safe after a complaint by the Dunsandel sub-branch of the Plunket Society that a child had been injured using it The secretary of the subbranch, Mrs Jenny Henderson, said in a letter to the council that the equipment left a lot to be desired. Many of the children using it were young and could not handle it. There was a genuine need for a children’s play area in the northern area of the township, she said. War memorial The sealed area around the Leeston war memorial will be cobblestoned after a recommendation by the Leeston Community Council, if the local Returned Services’ Association is agree-

Cobblestones were preferable to resealing with chip seal because of the low maintenance factor and the ease with which repairs could be made to the finished surface, said Cr J. S. Free. The present surface was damaged and needed improving. Although cobblestones were slightly more expensive they would be better in the long run, he said. The work has been estimated to cost $2109 and will be subsidised 1:1 by the County Council. . Fire station A new lease transferring the Dunsandel fire station to

the New Zealand Fire Service was approved by the council after the dounty Clerk, Mr G. R. Singleton, reported that the last lease had been lost The original lease was actioned by the council in October, 1983, and forwarded to the Ministry of Works and Development for final signature by the Fire Service, he said. This was in turn forwarded to the Fire Service, signed and returned to the Christchurch office. At this point the document was either lost or mislaid. It took a personal inquiry by the member of Parliament for Selwyn, Miss Ruth Richardson, before the loss was discovered, he said.