Board angry at ‘threat’ by Palmer

Press, 24 August 1988, Page 1

Board angry at ‘threat’ by Palmer

By

JANE DUNBAR

A Christchurch Drainage Board member is “appalled” at what he calls an implied threat by the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Palmer.

A letter from Mr Palmer on the Drainage Board’s floodmanagement proposals for the Heathcote River was received at a board committee meeting yesterday. The tone of the letter was appalling, said a board member, Mr Ron Wilton. “There is an implied threat that if we don’t do as he suggests we had better watch out with local body reform. To threaten us in this way is quite incredible,” he said. In his letter Mr Palmer said people had written to him expressing concern about the board’s preferred option for the river... . “I question the wisdom of promoting an unnecessarily expensive project during a period of general belt-tightening,” he said. “Far-reaching decisions are to be made by the Government on the functions of local and regional government, and this will be influenced by perceptions of their effectiveness and accountability to their constituents. "As chairman of the Cabinet committee on local government reform I will be playing a key role in these decisions,” said Mr Palmer. Such statements were provocative and unlike Mr Palmer, said another board member, Mr Brian Whelan.

Someone else must have written the letter and Mr Palmer signed it without looking, said Mr Wilton. But Mr Palmer said last evening he had written the letter himself. His comments were statements of fact and not threats, he said. The board decided to send Mr Palmer a copy of the Heathcote River report tabled at yesterday’s meeting. The report recommends abandoning the board’s preferred $3.2 million proposal for the river and adopting a $l.B million com-

promise scheme. This is more expensive and will have a greater environmental impact than the $830,000 scheme favoured by a special advisory group set up to consider the controversial issue. But the $830,000 scheme has come under attack because it would mean an increased flood risk to some areas of Christchurch. The board’s announcement of a compromise scheme comes after it received 118 public submissions on the options being considered. The new proposal would achieve a small reduction in flood levels in the long term, said the board’s chief engineer, Mr Peter Hunt. Fewer trees would be affected under the board’s new proposal. About 50 to 60 trees along the 10km of river between Opawa and Cashmere would be affected, rather than up to 300. The board’s development, construction and tenders committee yesterday recommended the new scheme be adopted in principle, subject to a satisfactory environmental impact report. The committee’s chairman, Mr Jame McMillan, said an environmental impact report would be necessary for water-right applications.