REGIONAL PLANNING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 120, 17 April 1930, Page 10

REGIONAL PLANNING.

PALMERSTON NORTH AREA. MARTON OBJECTS TO INCLUSION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) MARTON, April 16. Objection to a proposal that. Marton should be included in the Palmerston Nortli area for tho purposes of regional planning under the Town Planning Act was voiced at a meeting of tho Marton Borough Council, when a letter from the Minister of Internal Affairs (Hon. P. A. do la Perrello) was under discussion. Eventually a resolution embracing tho council’s attitude was carried. Iho Minister’s letter was an invitation to the council to bo represented at a public inon° (I? at Palmerston North on May <29, for the purpose of hearing evidence from all interested parties with a view to determining tho boundaries of tho region comprising the borough of Palmerston North and surrounding districts,” Tho letter further stated: “In view of misconceptions. which appear to havo arisen as tho result of the inclusion of the regional planning provisions in tho town planning legislation, I. think .it dcsirablo to stato that although regional planning is concerned with certain phases of town planning it is in fact. much, wider in scope and contemplates : (1) Tho preparation of a survey of tho natural resources of the area to which tho scheme : relates and tho existing conditions in regard to transportation facilities and other public facilities and services of a regional.character. (2) Tho preparation of a scheme to secure the conservation and economic development of tho natural resources of the region and the co-ordination of local j body activities.. A region for rogioual plan-

ning purposes may be regarded as a selfcontained social and economic unit, and the evidence of your representative should be directed to a definition of tho boundaries of the unit of which Palmerston North can bo regarded as tho local point. I would liko to add that tho primary object of this Inquiry is to enable tho local bodies' themselves to acquiro tho necessary information to enablo them to arrive at a decision in regard to tho action to bo taken for the de'finition of a regional area and the constitution of a regional committee in accordance with tho provisions of the Town Planning Amendment Act, 1929.” After a short discussion tho council carried tho following resolution:—“That, while thanking the Minister for his invitation, ho bo advised that Marlon and Palmerston North borough are 30 miles apart,'and that they cannot in tho terms of section 3 of tho Act be considered in any way adjoining, nor can they be classed as a self-contained social and economic unit; that in tho circumstances tho Minister be asked to dismiss the Marton borough from the scope of such inquiry; further, that ho bo informed that Marton is 22 miles from the city of Wanganui, but that _if any regional planning is required in this locality the Marton borough is tho natural centro of a very largo and progressive district.”