Committee wants court to decide

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 7

Committee wants court to decide

The Christchurch City Council will take the matter of the Taylors Mistake baches to court, if it heeds the recommendation of its parks and recreation committee. The committee decided yesterday that the solicitors for the council and the association should agree on a "set of facts” for submission to the Court for a declaratory judgment. A judgment can not be made on disputed facts, so both parties must agree. Neither can the Court answer a hypothetical question. The facts in dispute — and to be agreed — include whether the area

the baches are on is a legal road.

The committee also decided that the council should not remove the baches until a holiday bach zone had been discussed and approved or declined by the appropriate town planning procedures.

The council has already approved such a zone, subject to the Christchurch Drainage Board putting in a sewer. A move to give the bach owners 12 months grace after a zone was actually created was lost.

The committee also recommended . that if facts cannot be agreed to, the

council should seek an injunction to remove the baches. The Court was the proper forum to decide the situation, said the parks committee chairman, Cr John Burn. The City Solicitor reiterated his opinion that the council had no power to extend the licences of bach owners. Those licences have expired and the date of March 31 for the removal of the baches has passed.

It was time to sort the baches question out once and for all, Cr Clive Cotton said. He believed it could have been done before and should be done through the court.