THE TOWN PLANNING BILL.

Evening Star, Issue 20321, 1 November 1929, Page 8

THE TOWN PLANNING BILL.

A Town Planning’ Bill was talked of for perhaps a dozen years before one was placed on the Statute Book three years ago, and experience has shown that the measure then passed by Parliament was not much better than a false start. The Act required the council of every borough having a population of more than a thousand to prepare and submit to a central authority a town planning scheme “in respect of all land within tho borough.” This was to be done before January 1 of next year. The time has almost expired, and we cannot recall that any schemes whatever have been submitted. As was urged at the time on behalf ol the Dunedin City Council, tho requirement was impracticable, in respect at least of the largest boroughs. Their councils had to prepare a plan for the whole of the area under their jurisdiction —between 14,000 and 15,000 acres in the case of Dunedin —showing all their proposals for the future —street widening, classification of zones, and so forth —in one act. It could not be done. The alternative proposed was that tho work should be done by sections. That idea was scouted by the first officialdom, but a new Director of Town Planning sees the argument for it. Ho will bo content, apparently, with fairly general plans to cover the entire area in a broad way, tho details to bo filled in afterwards. In regard to schemes where combination was required, the prese; t Act left it too much to councils to prepare their own plans, by agreement among themselves in areas owning more than one control, or separately, to be reconciled later by a contra! hoard. That also was an impracticable method, and a Bill which was brought down in the House yesterday provides for the establishment of regional planning committees, which should find it much easier to arrive at common decisions. As a result of the original Act we have a Director of Town Planning and a Central Town Planning Board. Except for some work that the board has done in the approving of subdivisions nothing else seems to have come of it. There is promise of a real start being made by the amending Bill.

The time for submission of the schemes is necessarily extended, the date for their requirement to bo fixed by Order in Council. In one respect the new Bill is less coercive than the old. The latter stated that “ when a scheme has been finally approved by the hoard as aforesaid it shall be the duty of the Borough Council to observe and to enforce the observance of the requirements of the scheme m respect of all new works of any description thereafter undertaken within the borough, whether by the council or by any other person.” The new Bill makes it clear that “regional planning schemes are to serve as models for the guidance of local authorities engaged in the preparation of town planning or extra-urban planning schemes, and adherence to the provisions of them is to bo optional, and not compulsory.” No doubt it is hoped that, when the benefit of such,schemes is perceived, departures from them will not be wide in •practice. The new Bill promises to be a much more pnv '"able measure than

e i :im.t /cl. .t wo:: I De well if it. c.clrl I’a.e f n mn.ie to the f”'lesl extent a co.:;oiidt;ling nuasure. The Director of Town Planning has confessed that, with all his special knowledge, it makes his head swim when he .has to chase through half a dozen statutes to find the regulations in re-

gard to subdivision of land, street widths, building lines, and all the other matters that are connected with his specialty. The Government will do well, however, if it can get its Bill passed, even in its present form, in this expiring session.