Timaru pleads for its own identity

Press, 8 March 1989, Page 3

Timaru pleads for its own identity

By

JANE ENGLAND

A strong plea for a separate authority representing central South Islanders was yesterday presented to the Local Government Commission. The submission was made by the chairman of the transition committee for the proposed Timaru District Council,. Mr Archie Houston, during a meeting in Christchurch. The committee, which represents the Timaru County, Temuka Borough and Strathallan County councils, opposed the “unwieldly” size of the proposed Canterbury region. The committee was concerned that the structure would lead to a loss of local identity control and employment. The region had the expertise and resources to sustain itself independently. The committee requested that a separate central South Island region be established for Mid-Canterbury, South

Canterbury, and North Otago. The area would extend from the Rakaia River in the north to Shag Point in the south and inland to the Southern Alps. The committee outlined its “fall-back” position as being an acceptance of the southern boundaryfor Canterbury which had been described in the commission’s draft reorganisation scheme. The submission opposed the possibility of the southern boundary between South Canterbury and North Otago being moved northward. Mr Houston emphasised that the name for the proposed region should be “South Canterbury” and not "Aoraki.” The submission interpreted statements proposing that regional councils should be “lean and mean” as an indication of impending job cuts for South Canterbury. The community services should be delegated or contracted to the appropriate district councils

and the regional councils should only undertake planning and policy work, Mr Houston said. The submission called for a representative from the South Canterbury area to be included on the Rural Services Committee and said sub-regional committees should be established to distribute finances. The committee was conscious of the fierce competition between the Timaru and Lyttelton ports. “There could be a very real danger of parochialism entering into even regulatory decisions,” Mr Houston said. He called for equal representation for the Timaru and Lyttelton port companies and district control of port company shares. The committee outlined the need for independent area control when a new Civil Defence Plan was devised for the region, and called for a study of the application of rates under the scheme.