NEW FIRE STATION

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 49, 21 November 1932, Page 11

NEW FIRE STATION

City Stands to Lose Annual Rental BOARD AND COUNCIL The latest decision of the ’Wellington Fire Board as to the site of the proposed new Central Station has given a new turn to this long-debated fluestlon. For the last three years the ire Board has been negotiating with the City Council for the site of the existing station. , , .. The whole question of the station site was brought to a head when the late Mayor (Mr. G. A. Troup) brought down his Civic Square idea. This involved the resumption by tie City Council of the whole of the block of which the present Central Fire Station is the northern end. Mr. Troup’s idea, tentatively approved by the Council after the submission of a plan which involved the transforming of the whole of the block into lawns and gardens (except a proposed site for a new Public Library at the southern section of the block), was that there would be no home for the Fire Station on the block. He offered the Board as an alternative the site of the present Star Boating Club s shed and old naval boatshep, now the V eilington Rowing Club’s shed. Attitude of the Board. The board of that day would have none but the present site, and this attitude has been stoutly maintained until a few weeks ago, when the present Council, led by the opinion of the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), decided that on no consideration would the board, be allowed to acquire the existing site. He offered as an alternative, the site originally planned by Mr. Troup to accommodate a new library at the southern end of the block fronting Wakefield Street and Jervois Quay, at an annual rental of £2200. In the proposal the Mayor did not have the full support of the Council, as several of the members are averse to sacrificing the open space already created as the beginning of Mr. Troup’s larger aesthetic'scheme for the improvement of the environs of the town Hall. Mr. Hislop maintained that the southern site was equally as good as the northern one, and that by having the station on the south-east-ern corner of the block it would not prevent the City Council of the future improving the area opposite the Town Hall should they wish to do so. Northern Site Preferred. The Fire Board has never approved of this site. Indeed it set its face against it from the time of the original proposal, still adhering to the belief that the northern site was the only practicable one for the station. It also considered that the rental proposed by the Council was not very conducive to business. In these circumstances the board began to look round for alternative freehold sites in other parts of the’ city. Immediately this was known several very good central sites were offered and in some cases seriously considered, but nothing definite was done until the board’s decision on Thursday, when it was announced that they had a firm offer from the Education Board to sell the Clyde Quay School site. What action, if any, the City Council, as half contributors to the expenses of the Fire Board, may take will be of interest to all concerned. By refusing the board the site it wanted, the council probably will lose the board as tenants altogether, and have a property left on their hands, which board members have stated will not be easy to let for other than station’ purposes. This will be a rather serious matter for the Council as it would mean the loss of £1950 a year rental, which the board is now paying. Freehold Policy Favoured. At'the same time the board all along has been in favour of a freehold policy as far as its new station is concerned, and' it has welcomed the offer of the Education Board as one likely to be remunerative in the long run. Had it built the new station on a leasehold arrangement on city land, the whole of the property would have become vested in the City Council at the' end of the lease.