Golf course rejected

Press, 8 March 1988, Page 7

Golf course rejected

X proposal to quarry a 65ha parcel of land on Harewood Road and turn it into a golf course has been rejected by the Paparua County Council. Laing Contractors, Ltd, put a proposal to the council in 1986 to create a recreation park, after quarrying natural sands and . gravels i from the area. [ •, '[ The recreation ■ park idea was abandoned in favour of a golf course, however! after numerous objections to the application were received. Other aspects of the application remained largely ' unchanged . [Six objections : were receiver from quarry operate! s and owners of quarry-zoned : land, and sijx from Old West Coast Road residents. There Were also objections from the C iristchurch City Council, the North Canterbury Catchment- Board, t jie Ct nterbury United ppuncil, the' of

Works land Development, and the Coringa Country Club. | ) - .IJ The application raised a number of; important issues in respect of quarrying and recreational development in the! county, said a'council town-plan-ning report. I The proposed site was mostly in an area not zoned for quarrying, and the council decided there was no compelling [reason to quarry material from outside the quarry) zone. The) golf course would be a desirable end) use of the arfea, it said, but it did not believe the need for quarrying as an interim use was sufficiently established in the applications. The| council was also concerned that the proposed) quarrying) could pollute groundwaters in the area, and that if the application were granted a precedent for [further proposals would be created. ' |