The Dominion THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1925. PORT AND REGIONAL PLANNING

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 130, 26 February 1925, Page 8

The Dominion THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1925. PORT AND REGIONAL PLANNING

In his annual report, presented last evening, the chairman of the Harbour Board (Mr. G. Mitchell) outlined proposals which aim at providing for industrial development on areas adjacent to Wellington Harbour. This is an important part of the larger question of directing the development of the whole of the districts surrounding the port of Wellington in accordance with modern ideas on the subject of town and regional planning. The concentration of industries on suitable areas is, of course, one of the most essential conditions of sound regional planning, and the Harbour Board chairman, together with Mr; Strand (Mayor of Lower Hutt) and others who have co-operated with him in this matter, are to be credited with a progressive lead, and one that is well worth following. In brief, it is proposed that the Evans Bay reclamation and a site of 400 acres at the. mouth of the Hutt River" should be set aside as industrial areas, and that the construction of wharves and the extension of transport facilities serving these areas should proceed in accordance with a methodical plan. It is evidently very necessary that orderly provision should be made in this way for the growth and expansion of industries if there is to be an avoidance henceforth of the confused and ill-directed development of which too many examples are to be seen in and about the metropolitan-area. The localities proposed for the future accommodation of , industries seem likely to command approval on their merits. .It may be hoped that in this country as time goes on some manufacturing and other industries will be established in rural areas, but there is bound to be industrial development on a considerable scale in the immediate vicinity of a port like Wellington. The concentration of industrial establishments on approved sites thus becomes vitally important, not only from the standpoint of economy and efficiency, but in order that the amenities of residential and other areas may be impaired as little as possible. , \ Some objections have been raised to the development of an industrial area at Evans Bay, but these are hardly likely to be maintained in face of such proposals as the chairman of the Harbour Board submitted last evening. What is suggested is that the Evans Bay reclamation should be the site of such industries as can be worked by electric power, and served by water and road transport. It would be a serious offence against the city and its people, Mr. Mitchell observed, to allow industries requiring big smoke stacks, in such a locality. His. references to the preservation of bathing places are also likely- to meet with approval. ’• When this reclamation is proceeded with (he said), provision should be made to preserve suitable bathing places for the people. This matter was evidently overlooked when the reclamation rights were granted, but I know that the health, pleasure, and general interest of the residents will not be neglected by the Board in regard to making adequate provision to protect their bathing places, and you will consider any reasonable proposal placed before you to this end.

Directed on these lines, the industrial development of Evans Bay need not prejudice the adjacent residential areas nor interfere to any serious extent with the present popularity ,of the bay as a bathing resort. Some of the industries for which it is proposed to provide a location at the mputh of the Hutt River may create more or less unpleasant conditions in their immediate vicinity, but many devices are available nowadays for abating smoke and other nuisances incidental to intensive‘industrial development. The site has great advantages in the facility with which it can bt! provided with whai f accommodation linked with the railway system and in touch with the city by way of excellent roads. _ The development of. such an area is in no way inconsistent with the' continued improvement of agreeable, residential areas in its near neighbourhood. Tt is now recognised that town and regional planning would have averted the creation of, the desolate areas of “black country” that exist in Great Britain and in other countries. When, some years ago, coal pits were opened up in the previously agricultural district of Doncaster, in. England, a regional plan was prepared under which all the amenities of rural and village life, are to be preserved without prejudice to the development of coalmining" and of industries based on coal-mining. With such examples in sight, the problem of reconciling industrial development in the area at the mouth of the Hutt River with the maintenance of agreeable residential conditions in the near

neighbourhood need not defy solution. . At a broad view the proposals submitted by the chairman of the 'Harbour Board are undoubtedly in keeping with the sound policy of looking well ahead and making wise provision for the future. There is splendid scope for enterprise on these lines by local authorities m tlie Wellington metropolitan area and in the surrounding districts with which it has an obvious community of interest.