MINISTER DETERMINED THAT COUNCIL WILL OPERATE USEFULLY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22728, 28 August 1948, Page 4

MINISTER DETERMINED THAT COUNCIL WILL OPERATE USEFULLY

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

“THE Minister of Works gave the deputation an assurance that he is interested in the continuance of activity by the GisborneEast Coast Regional Council. In fact, he stated that he was determined that the council should function and that it would have something to put its teeth into,” stated Air. C. 11. Cooper, reviewing today the results of an approach to Air. R. Semple on behalf of the council.

The deputation, which visited Wellington this week and returned home on Thursday, comprised Messrs Cooper and W. Harnett, who were authorised by the annual meeting of the council to secure from the Minister of Works a statement of grounds which might justify the council's continued existence. Delegates present _ at the annual meeting had complained that the organisation had been stripped of any useful functions and that what was left to it in the way of public questions was too insignificant to warrant further attendance at meetings and the expenditure of funds. Little Encouragement Received In their anproach to the Minister in Wellington Messrs. Cooper and Harnett reminded Mr. Semple that the Gisborne-East Coast Regional Council had been set up at the instigation of the Government to assist in planning and organising the development of the district. Local bodies were the people most concerned with developmental work, and these bodies saw no advantage in putting their proposals through the council.

The Minister had suggested in correspondence that regional councils should act in an advisory relation with district offices of the Works Department, but little encouragement had been given to the Gisborne-East Coast council on these lines.

Town plans and plans for county development were one group of matter which had been the subject of direct communication between the local bodies concerned and the Ministry of Works, the deputation pointed out. These plans, in the Gisborne district, had caused some concern and confusion to residents affected, and yet there had been no suggestion for the kind of co-ordination for which the regional council had been inaugurated. Local Authorities’ Attitude “Local bodies of the district arc eager to assist each other and also the Government in the development of their region, but they are unable to see that the regional council can serve any useful purpose,” stated Mr. Cooper. “Can the Ministry clcrify the position, or should the council go into recess until such lime as there is more scope for its activities?" Rooking to the ' lr "uit-'tion. Mr. Semple said that lie agreed that too Idle opportunity had been given to the Gisborne-Fast Const council to jj” M f v itself in the eves of <>’« local authorities and the public, but this was due not to any lack of interest on the Government’s part. It was, on the other band. d”e mainly to the lack of materials and man-power on which a works programme for the district could bo built up. National Priority Jobs First

In normal times the regional council would have had plenty of work, and he looked forward to the time when availability of materials and manpower would permit consideration of works other than those urgently necessary as national priority jobs at the moment. He fell, said the Minister, that there was a very srood reason for the continuance of the council's existence, even in the interim. In fact, it would be most regrettable if the council did not continue to function.

A clearer understanding of the field of operations open to it would undoubtedly create new interest in regional planning, and in orde’* that this understanding should be established he proposed to send two of his. principal Works Ministry officers to Gisborne at an early date to consult with the members of the council.