TOWN PLANNING.

Franklin Times, Volume XX, Issue 141, 14 November 1930, Page 5

TOWN PLANNING.

THE REGIONAL SYSTEIV". j ADDRESS BY'THE DIRECTOR. ! The Director of Town and Regional Planning, Mr J. W. Mawson, addressed . a meeting of ratepayers in 111-• Masonic Hall on Wednesday evening. ids Wor- ' ship the Mayor, Mr John Komly, presiding. I The Director was accompanied by ! Mr E. J. Fawcett, Farm Economist of ; the Department of Agriculture. ; In introducing Mi- Mawson, Mr ! Routly said the original Act had more ' especial reference to town planning. hut. those wiio were to administer the Act* evidently found that it did not go far enough, and persuaded both Houses of the Legislature to put through an Amending Bill which dealt with the matter of Regional Planning. Regional pkyming, said the Mayor, had a very wide scope in New Zealand, and had reference to all utilisable land, the laying off of which was quite a large order. When the regional planning was completed they were told they would be a happier and more prosperous people. "If only we can live long enough there will be no need to go to Heaven, for we will have paradise in New Zealand," remarked the Mayor, amid laughter. The System ExpEained.

Mr Mawson soon demonstrated that he had his subject well mastered, for he spoke fluently and rapidly and it was at times difficult to interpret the meaning of some of his points. First and foremost he expressed pleasure at the invitation to visit Pukekohe, and address those concerned on regional planning, a subject which was equal, if not of greater interest to farmers than townspeople. For that reason he regretted there was not a larger attendance from the county area. Mr Mawson said he liked the district very much indeed, and it was very pleasing when approaching from the South to see the fertile lields and the apparent prosperity of the people. Some months ago he had the privilege of ad-, dressing a conference of local bodies in the Auckland region when he dealt with the machinery clauses of the legislation which was designed to secure the conservation and economic development of the natural resources of the Dominion. .The things to be done were clearly defined in the legislation, particularly the zoning of residential, commercial, industrial, recreational and other open spaces which included Agricultural land. He said there must he a definite relationship between each part of a town just as it was neces-

sary between residences and business premises. For instance no one would think when building a house, of having a dining room capable of housing two' or three times the number provided for in the* bedrooms. He considered that the Regional Planning Act was an admirable and necessary piece of legislation in view of the irresponsible way towns had been flung together or broadcast over the countryside. It

mirable and necessary piece of iegisration in view of the irresponsible way towns had been flung together or' broadcast over the countryside. It ' was designed for public and private j economy, for the conservation and de- ! velopment of the country's natural re- > sources, so as 'to return the greatest I satisfaction to the greatest, number.: over a long period of time. lie • pointed out that there bad been a good ; deal of misunderstanding or rniscon- ! ception as to the purposes and scope of regional planning. The Regional j Planning provisions of 102 9 did not I affect the provisions of the 1920 Town j Planing Act, for they might equally j •well have been incorporated in the j Finance Act, the Lands Act, or any j oilier Act, or it might have been en- J acted as a separate Act. It was primar- ; ily concerned with urban and rural de- j velopment. He referred to the fact that \ many were under the impression that j following subdivision and roading of ! an area, they had building land. What j they were asked to do was to make j provision for the future population and progress. There was no difficulty in j preparing plans for residential areas j and it was very easy to sub-divide the whole of New Zealand for residential purposes. It was a different matter when it came to a question of reserving land, open spaces, road widening and so on, for industrial and commercial purposes. I'nless there was some definite basis on which to form an idea ! of future progress or a policy of de- j velopment, they would continue to ex- ; jn'ml money on a misdirected course, j a course which had caused serious dis- j lorlion in lhe social and economic j structure. { Definition of a Region. j Mr Mawson went on to give the de- 1 ilnifion of a region, which lie described as an area of land having natural j geographic boundaries, or united by j common social and economic interests, i Regional planning involved the co-op-erative solution of problems of physical development and land utilisation within lhe region. For every scheme and • very feature of a. scheme I here, must be a <pianlilalive and (ii.talil.al.ivc analysis of all contributing factors. Urban development was regarded as one form of laud utilisation. Regional planning deh'rmined lhe location area uul functions of urban lands within Hie region so as to maintain al all inn's a proper balance between urban ind rural population, and urban and rural social and economic activities. Wi I h modern I ranspoi I lhe radio. ■ if •phone and oilier facilities, lown ~!,<! country had losl Iheir separate denlily. At present people lived in he country and worked in the towns .vrulc some lived in lhe towns and journeyed to Iheir farms to supervise lhe work there, so that the idea Ilia; 'own and country were separate, no •onL'-ei' ,->vjsb>d. Voder lhe regional

! Ratio of Population. I system tliey were- partners in a joint j enterprise. Situated as Now Zealand | was. dependent on its primary pro- ! ducers,, ttie town came to exist, to j serve the rural industries. i deferring to the ratio of urban to | rural population, Mr Mawson stated that so long as New Zealand was dependent on her primary industries there must !>•■ a definite ratio of rural to urban population which could not be exceeded without creating serious [ economic and social problems—urii employment. Eveu supposing: New I Zealand "was able to supply all her 'legitimate needs without importing | manufactured articles, this ratio ; I must be maintained within broad limits I j within each self-contained social and I economic unit, called a region. Mr ! Maws on considered that a fair ratio was 40 per cent in the country and OH per cent in the towns —a higher ratio j than was the case in America. Out of j a population of H millions there were! 880,000 urban dwellers in New Zea- j ]and, and the urban area, boroughs j included. 300.370 acres. The total j length of streets and roads was about j 4,000 miles. To satisfy this popu- i lation on an accpted. density basis, j it, would require about. 70,000 acres \ and .1,700 miles of streets without making provision, for growth of population. On this basis of streets alone, New Zealand had made provision for a population of over 2,000,000. To reach this figure on a 00-40 basis the population would need to be nearly 3,000,000. He suggested that on this basis of urban development, there had been a totally unjustifiable wastage of j land and capital resources. There were hundreds of acres of land, millions of pounds sterling, tied up in unnecessary works, which were nonproductive and which were a heavy burden on the people of the day. tie pointed/ out. that the people had to meet in rates and taxes a nice little bill of 14£ millions a year—a dead weight burden on every form of industry. The Ultimate Consumer. The farmer in New Zealand was the ultimate consumer of everything imported or manufactured in this country. Every penny spent on public utilities and social services formed a part of the cost of production of primary produce. Jf regional planning was going to be effective, it must be directed primarily io the economic development of primary industries by facilitating land settlement, and discouraging unnecessary and wasteful expenditure in urban developments, both in land and in capital. Mr Mawson urged a cessation of the spora'dic and uneconomic urban developments

taking place,all over the country. The uncontrolled subdivision of land for building purposes meant that valuable farming land was being lost for production purposes, and placed a burden of rates on the land which tended to render farming uneconomic.

Dealing with the transport question. Mr Mawson said the total cost of transport had grown out of all proportion to the value of New Zealand's products. The present expenditure in this direction had got beyond the ability of the country to pay. For every £IOO worth of primary produce the transport report stated that transport cost was £3G Is. (Transportcosts included transport to race meetings and such like. If translated to mean primary products for sale overseas, ultimately the cost would be £SO. Such figures made one won- " Eased on Far Sighted Scheme." The speaker said that if regional planning was worth anything at all it der what was left after meeting costs, would bring about a reduction of costs by preventing wasteful expenditure—some money had not been wisely expended in the past—and ensuring thai something like an economic use was made of expenditure already incurred on public utilities and services before further expenditure was undertaken. It meant that all future expenditure on public utilities, improvements ami services would be made in accordance with a far-sighted and comprehensive scheme of co-ordinated developments based on facts obtained instead of on the present, haphazard and unscientific plan. Everything would be undertaken according to a definite plan. In the past, while some money had been spent to plan, there had 'been no sound basis on which to work. Tinpeople were now paying the piper. IP' did no! condemn everything that had been done, but claimed positively that flu.' Regional Planning scheme would do an immense amount of good. This scheme had gained favour in England, Canada and U.S.A., countries which had seen Hie value and utility in regional planning and it was at least well worth a [rial in New Zealand. The speaker mentioned in passing that thousand of acres of beautiful bush land had been felled and burned to no purpose and as a result serious problems had been created in respect to catchment areas. "So much \'uv the past, what of the future?" asked Mr .Mawson. "Have we any guarantee that the same tragic mistakes will not be mad.;. All knew the value of scientific research work since the war. IKtrtieulai'iy with regard to top-dres-sing. Mr Mawson rimmed the Regional Planning scheme would at least ,-issis! !,., DVi't'COlUi' -anno "I ill'' i-JTOI'S of the past. Mr Mawson next dealt with the ouesli'.m of representation and tinwork of the regional committees. Loco bodies. Im --aid. within a defined region : ,.i.,|.,,•;..!.1'd I'oi'.n senla'iyes. each nor ■ oui ■•• having a population : ' uu'- 'ess fIKMi |.ft,ooo being ".ntitied "o Uv<i representatives and even 'Hier bor ough, counts md town district., -m 1 ( ~.p! Vc .-.n!aM, ,o r >"rwK'ei, -vr>? ilso

tteps cscnt&tic:". made for the appointment of subcommittees with power to prepare sur ; veys. maps, plans and reports thai {might be necessary, and to gather ;u i informaiion, showing the potential economic utilisation of the-national resources wihin the region, the potential density ami distribution of population both urban and rural, based upon the ■ maximum utilisation of natural rei sources and farsighted schemes for the I reorganisation of public utilities and ; services so that they might provide the i maximum of efficiency and economy in j the areas and for the population they j were designed to serve. Regional I planning was one of the biggest and j far-reaching questions a country could | undertake. If a local body failed to appoint, a representative the Governor General was invested with authority to appoint one. As far as compensation was concerned there was no possibility of claims being made. He also state,. that the committees had no mandatory powers but acted only in an advisory capacity. Opposed to Scheme. The Mayor said he was one of those not in agreement with the proposal to bring in the Regional planning scheme the whole of the utilisahle areas in New Zealand. He was, however, in agreement with most of the conditions in the original Town Planning Act. He questioned whether the board had mandatory or advisory powers, and. quoted from the Act the words "the board shall" and "may" which showed that the board "shall" do this or that or "may" do so and so. Mr Rout I y pointed out the position regarding the committee which to his mind resolved itself into a preponderance of town representatives. How are the country districts going to fare against the Auckland Metropolitan districts who would have a predonderance of representation, because of the greater number of local bodies in that area; and wlio was going to get the preference on the sub-committees? The preponderence of votes would be with those interested in regional planning —the City and suburban local bodies. Mr* Routly said he was quite opposed to the Act operating over the whole of the utilisahle land in New Zealand, lie considered that in this locality it needed careful watching.

Further discussion ensued and finally Mr J. P. Rae moved the following resolution: "That having heard Mr .1. W. Mawson's address on Regional Planning- this meeting is of the opinion that the claims as to the advantage that will accrue from Regional Planning are extravagant and that we consider that very careful stocktaking as to carrying out the project in its entirety should be made before imposing it on the rural areas of New Zealand."

The motion was seconded by Mr.P. A. Miller and carried. A vote of thanks to Mr Mawson for his address was carried by acclamation.