Council denies craft centre impeded

Press, 6 October 1987, Page 2

Council denies craft centre impeded

The Canterbury United Council believes it did not hinder development of a novel tourist attraction in Halswell, according to its chairwoman, Mrs Margaret Murray. Mrs Murray said accusations that the council was “ultra-conservative and the great clobbering machine" were unfounded and that rather the United Council “played its part really well” in what she believed was a “uniquely different" type of development The developer of the Halswell Mill Craft Centre in Sparks Road, Mr Ken Plumstead, criticised the council this week for costing him more than three

years work and $50,000 because it tried to block the project Mrs Murray said this was incorrect She said that , Mr Plumstead had begun work on the centre without a building permit from the territorial authority, the Paparua County Council. “Between December and February of 1984-85 the council’s only input was to send an advisory letter regarding adequate safeguards,” she said. Mrs Murray had recently joined the council then and she remembered following the project with interest because of its uniqueness.

“The council did not, as Mr Plumstead argues, hold the project up or indulge in bureaucratic bungling.”

However, she, said it was the council’s function to examine the project because it included a rabbit abattoir — “we had to ensure his neighbours could live with it” The craft centre will open on October 31 and offers a windmill as its focal point, wood and stone carving, a rabbit farm, and other craft attractions.

Mr Plumstead estimated the centre could earn as much as $4 million in its first year.