DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27221, 26 October 1949, Page 8

DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

Housing Committee's Report Under Fire

WORK OF “ EARNEST AMATEURS ”

The Otago Development Council and the report of its Housing Committee, details of which were released last week, were subject to strong criticism by Cr A. J. Pottinger at a special meeting of the Green Island Borough Council last night. He could not think of anything more important than the development of the metropolitan area, he said, but the Development Council, in adopting the report of its subcommittee, was stepping outside the field of its legitimate work. Any comprehensive survey of the needs of the district, the speaker contended, was primarily the work of experts and not amateurs, no matter how earnest and sincere they might be. He moved a resolution, which was finally adopted, that the Borough Council could not agree with the report and findings of the Development Council.

Cr Pottinger contended that a regional town planning authority was the proper body to deal with such a survey. When this organisation was in process of formation, the city engineer, Mr S. G. Secular, had stated that it would take at least three years to prepare a comprehensive survey on town planning and the needs of the districts in and adjacent to Dunedin. He had made this statement after having made a tour of the other main centres studying the problem. The housing sub-committee of the Development Council had not coopted 'any technical authority to assist it in its work, yet it had brought down .a long list of recommendations and concluded these with a decision to ask the Commissioner of Works and the Director of State Housing to visit Dunedin, and to give a definite statement on housing development.

To achieve expansion the committee rightly recognised the need for housing, but that was stating the obvious. There were basic questions to be answered when it came to deciding the types of industry required and what was to be their situation. He felt the committee, had fallen down badly in that in its report there was a complete absence of any reputable technical opinion. The survey it had made was riot on sound lines, but was a conglomeration.of opinions. “We are asked to accept these statements of opinions without any evidence being brought forward,” Cr Pottinger said. “ The report states that these schemes come within the scope of regional town planning. If it had stopped at thgt and had urged the immediate setting up of the town planning authority, no one could have found fault with the report. That statement in the report is an admission of its own weakness.” he added.

“The committee goes on from there to a series of conclusions, and no one will deny there is urgency, but speed is not the prerequisite to success, for any wrong decision may retard progress rather than advance it. The matter is one for a town planning authority.” Referring to the city engineer’s statement that it would take three years to prepare a worthwhile survey, Cr Pottinger said that here they had a set of conclusions drawn up by a set of earnest amateurs. “r am not questioning their sincerity, but their qualifications. I feel it Is a dangerous practice, and the report is a dangerous document to be circulated. The committee lacked capacity and it lacked authority.” In its report it had stated there was some authority for saying there was an abundance: of good coal in Otago awaiting development. That _ was sheer nonsense, added Cr Pottinger, and he could name competent authority for that statement.

Competent authority had stated that the coal contained 30 per cent, to 40 per cent of moisture and 35 per cent, of ash. “We have no good coal here "hwaiting development,” he said. “It is just not true. It is nonsense. One could point out other statements in f the report that are not backed by fact”

Local bodies had certain authority and duties which he for one would jealously guard. , The Government, through the Town Planning Act, had given them the machinery to conduct certain surveys, and yet here they had a hurriedly put-together report and recommendations which conflicted Avith fact.

The report stressed the need for development on the Taieri. Much had been said about the Dunedin City Council taking 500,000 gallons of water a day from its bore near Wingatui and depriving the farmers of water. 'Actually, that was not a great amount. He knew of one industry' in the district which required 400,000 a day, and which could use more.

When there was a prospect of a cotton mill starting in the city, the old .Dunedin Development Council took -the interested party out into the Kai;korai Valley, and discussed sites, but .the huge quantity of water such a •mill would require could not be supplied. “I have a duty as a public man to say that I disagree with the conclusions and findings of the Development Council,” said Cr Pottinger, who moved the following resolution: That the Otago Development Coun- ' s cil be informed that this council "‘- cannot agree with the report and J recommendations on housing and industrial expansion as set forth in the • report of the Housing Sub-commit-tee of the Otago Development Council for the following reasons:—(l) The absence of published evidence on which the recommendations were based; (2) lack of technical advisers f whose professional qualifications '• could be assessed; (3) inadequate Competent authority had stated that ;V consideration of the far-reaching r effects upon the community if the v recommendations were adopted; and (4) that the whole field is predomiriantly within the scope of the regional planning authority, adequately supported by a qualified professional staff of technical advisers.

The Development Council was endeavouring to usurp the duties and of the regional planning authority, said Cr F. W. Gray, who seconded the motion. Such an authority would be more competent by far to express an opinion . than this committee which was set up.

“Thev seem to have their mind set on the Taieri,” he said. “ They are not fully conversant with the whole matter. nor have they any knowledge of Green Island when they adopt such recommendations. One has only to go on the nearby hills and see the many acres of- first-class flat land available for development. “Of one farm of 900 acres I know,” Cr Gray said, “ some 500 acres of it' are ideally suited for light industry and housing.” He went on to speak of the expansion that could take place within the area bounded by Abbotsford, Fairfield, and the sea coast. Cr T. M. McAhan said he did believe the Development Council was trying to do something - for Dunedin, but he believed the Government should come out to Green Island, where there was ample room for industry and home development, all adjacent to Govern-ment-owned railways, which would benefit considerably from such expansion. The resolution was carried. After the meeting Mr J. Boomer, the Mayor of the borough, said there had been rapid expansion throughout the district m recent years. It was *oing ahead too fast for the borough to provide the necessary amenities. It was ribbon development, however, and was making the problem a difficult one for them. Expansion must develop outwards in the future. What was taking place stressed the need for regional planning.