TOWN PLANNING

Evening Star, Issue 22367, 17 June 1936, Page 7

TOWN PLANNING

LEOTURE BY MR G. B. BARROWCLOUGH * Town Planning Law and Practice in New Zealand ’ was the subject of an address given to members of the Otago Institute last night by Mr C. B. Barrowclough. Mr J. H. White presided. At the outset the speaker gave a brief history of the position as far as New Zealand was concerned. The earliest attempt, he said, to make statutory iprovisions giving power to compel the putting into operation of town planning ideals was in 1871, but the Bill, after passing through the House of Representatives, was thrown out by the Legislative Council. In 1875, however, a Bill was passed, which followed closely on the lines of the previous one. The speaker detailed the chief clauses of the Act, which, be said, was limited in its application to future towns, with no application to existing ones, including th<? chief cities. The Act was repealed 10 years later, and the same year a further Act was passed, which incorporated most of the former provisions, and these, in a modified manner, were perpetuated through the numerous amendments.

There were 20 statutes dealing with what might be called town planning and relative matters. The Local Bodies, Municipal Corporation, Public Health, Public AVorks, and the Pub’ic Reserves, Domain, and National Parks Acts all dealt in some of their clauses with different aspects of town planning. The provisions of these Acts wore many and far-reaching, continued the speaker, and should at first sight have achieved more than they had. Certain points, however, had to be borne in mind. In the first place, the existing legislation was of a permissive nature, and inertia, lack of finance, and opposition by the ratepayers often prevented full use being made of the existing powers. The statutes also made provision for comprehensive schemes by cooperation between the various bodies, and dealt with the wider issues of regional planning. Any important reorganisation of existing towns would entail, the payment of large sums by way of compensation to some and the giving of vast unearned increment to others. Until the passing of the Town Planning Act of 192 G no real attempt had been made to deal with the problems of “ betterment,” which, Mr Barrowclough considered, had not yet been satisfactorily dealt with. The speaker then detailed the various clauses in the Act of 1926, which was the first real attempt to put town planning in the Dominion on a proper basis. It was limited in scope to what might bo termed town planning and regional planning. Air Barrowclough pointed out various weaknesses in the existing legislation, offering the opinion that, although, theoretically, the provisions seemed fairly satisfactory from a practical point of view, it was difficult to sec now the obligations thrown on a local body to prepare a scheme would or could be enforced. The lecturer then explained the difficult question of betterment and betterment increase, comparing the New Zealand Acts with the legislation in force in England which attempted to deal with town planning. The speaker concluded his paper by briefly touching on the Town, Planning Amendment Act, 1929, which dealt with regional planning. The Act, however, was designed to educate and assist local authorities rather than to carry anything out. At the conclusion of his address Mr Barrowclough was accorded a vote of thanks.