City Council to permit land use for gondola

Press, 18 February 1986, Page 5

City Council to permit land use for gondola

The proposed Port Hills gondola will be able to use Mount Cavendish reserve, the reserve "owners,” the Christchurch City Council, decided last evening. This is subject to approval being obtained from other relevant authorities.

This was in spite of letters from the Summit Road Society and Dr David Given, a research scientist opposing the proposal.

Dr Given and the society say that the increased use of the Mount Cavendish reserve would jeopardise the environment and rare plant species.

After the meeting, Dr Given said that two plants in the reserve were on the national threatened plants list.

One of the species was the only example in New Zealand, and the other was one of only three examples nationally.

He said he would not name the plants as this could attract attention to them, which could be fatal.

The council voted, without dissent, to make the reserve available to the gondola’s promoters should they obtain all other necessary approvals' from other authorities.

Conditions tagged to the use of the reserve land are the permission of the Minister of Lands and the signing of an acceptable lease in line with the management plan for the reserve now being completed. The land is vested in the council for management as a scenic reserve.

The plan for 20 Port Hills reserves will be completed soon by council staff. The council is “landowner” of the reserve, although planning permission for the project lies with the Heathcote County Council and the Lyttelton Borough Council.

The land in the Mount Cavendish reserve would be used for the proposed terminal building at the top of the gondola run. The project also includes an artificial ski slope and two artificial bobsleigh runs.

The Summit Road Society has written to the Minister of Lands, Mr Wetere, opposing the scheme.

The society’s president, Mr John Jameson, told the council in a letter that he was disappointed about the parks and recreation committee’s decision to make the land available, approved last evening by the council.

He urged the City Council to obtain full environmental reports, something councillors have said is a matter for the planning authorities, and to note the precedent that establishing the gondola might set.

In its letter to Mr Wetere, the society referred to demand for carparking, litter problems, and possible behavioural problems in a steep, rocky area as reasons the gondola should not be approved.

A. survey of Summit Road users — 60,000 in January and February, 1985 — showed they enjoyed the uncluttered atmosphere.

The project would desecrate the Heathcote Valley, the letter said. The slopes of the hills below the Summit Road and in and near the area protected by the Summit Road Protection Act would be seriously affected.

The council also received a letter from Dr Given, who said that use of the reserve for the gondola would be against the spirit of the Reserves Act.

Reserves were for the "purpose of protecting and preserving in perpetuity for their intrinsic worth and for the benefit ... of the public, suitable areas.”

The emphasis was on preservation, protection, scenic interest and natural features, not restaurants and cableways.

Mount Pleasant and Lyttelton reserves also contained one of only three populations of another plant species found only in New Zealand, he said. This species was critically under threat. Dr Given said he be-

lieved the development should be on private land. Cr John Bum, chairman of the parks and recreation committee, noted that Mount Cavendish is a scenic, not a Crown, reserve.

Cr Bum said the council’s action was simply to “get things off the ground.” Approval of the project was not the council’s to give, he said. That was for the planning authorities. Cr Alistair James said he believed the Summit Road Protection Act was being amended, although without significant changes. The council should pursue the piamoters’ offer of a substantial arrea of land along the Summit Road, he said. Harry Ell, the Summit Road founder, had envisaged refreshment houses along the road. The restaurant would fulfil that function, Cr James said.

Cr Bum said that council officers would consult Dr Given on the plant species.