RUATORIA TOWN PLAN UNDER FIRE BY CHAMBER 25 YEARS TOO LATE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22872, 16 February 1949, Page 6

RUATORIA TOWN PLAN UNDER FIRE BY CHAMBER 25 YEARS TOO LATE

(Herald Correspondent.) The town planning 1 scheme for Ruatoria, which provided for a new main street and the removal of a portion of the present buildings without compensation, was subjected to criticism at a meeting of the Ruatoria Chamber of Commerce on Monday evening. The chief objections, summarised, were that the plan was 25 years too late, or 50 years too advanced. The chairman, Mr. H. M. Akers, who, with Mr. H. S. Smyth, jun.,’ had discussed the plan with the chief surveyor of the Lands and Survey Department, Gisborne, outlined the proposed scheme. He said no compensation would be payable, even in the case of property taken from private owners for the large playing area which would duplicate, largely, the facilities at.Whakarua Park. Other objections, in Mr. Akers opinion, were that the surveyor’s report was inexact in relation to the estimated increase in population making town-planning necessary, in an underestimation of the amount of erosion, taking place in the high country and stream beds, and in his statement that congestion took place frequently in the main street due to its narrowness. No Compensation Because of the alleged narrowness of the street, the chairman'said, the plan required the removal of the business premises on the embankment side as a remedy, and without compensation. Mr. R. Kemp: If I were asked to town-plan Ruatoria, I would say “up hooks, and take the whole town over to Wicksteed’s.’’ The speaker objected to the plan further on the grounds that the erosion of the Mangahaere Stream constituted a definite danger to the present township. Further strong objections were raised by Messrs. J. F. Williamson and R. Bishop, among other speakers', and it was decided that the chamber express its disapproval of the plan as set out by the Town Planning Council, and that a letter be sent to the Waiapu County Council requesting its assistance.