Swamp price ‘exorbitant’

Press, 14 August 1989, Page 18

Swamp price ‘exorbitant’

The Travis Swamp developers are asking an exorbitant price for an area of land conservationists want set aside as a reserve, says a North Canterbury Catchment Board member, Mrs Judy Waters. Travis Country Estates were granted permission to drain Travis Swamp, except 23ha which has significant natural value. They have offered the 23ha of swampland to conservationist and community groups for $690,000. The price was exorbitant, particularly considering that the developers would not be able to develop the area as part of their housing project, said Mr Waters. They would be quite

happy to leave the area alone and see its natural values-deteriorate so they could later reapply for water rights, she said. “Travis Swamp should be preserved as a regional asset, and with the revegetation of native plants and the development of walkways and an information centre it could be a valuable tourist attraction. “The area should never have been zoned residential in the first place. “The zoning occurred at a time when people were less concerned for natural values, and it appears objectors were unable to be heard because of a technicality,” she said. Mrs Waters is a Labour candidate for the new Canterbury Regional Council.