The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. “LUCEO NON URO.” FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1937. Town Planning Delays

Southland Times, Issue 23140, 5 March 1937, Page 6

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. “LUCEO NON URO.” FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1937. Town Planning Delays

Some members of the Invercargill City Council seem curiously reluctant to put into effect the scheme prepared by the Invercargill Town Planning Committee. This committee, after having been convened only twice since 1930, held a series of meetings last year and framed proposals to ensure a proper and orderly development of the city. As far back as July these proposals were received and discussed by the council. They were adversely criticized by some councillors, mainly on the ground that they were premature and would interfere with the rights of ratepayers. As we pointed out at the time councillors were not acting unreasonably in raising these objections, for it is their duty to protect the interests of the city and its ratepayers. But any town planning scheme can be called premature, for it is of necessity based on a city s future needs and future development and those who devise it must look well ahead. Moreover, the Town Planning Act provides safeguards for ratepayers which are both reasonable and adequate. The outcome of the discussion in July was a decision to hold over the proposals for further consideration at the next ordinary meeting. But that meeting brought only a further postponement; and when a special meeting to deal with the scheme was ultimately held in September it decided merely to defer final consideration for another two months while a series of sub-committees of the council reported on the application of the new proposals in different parts of the city. The limit, of two months which was set upon the deliberations of theSe✓sub-committees has apparently been forgotten, for the scheme is no further forward today. Nor, it appears, has the council taken cognizance of the recommendations for an extraurban scheme which were made by the Town Planning Committee in consultation with the Southland County Council and the South Invercargill Borough Council. At the City Council’s meeting on Tuesday evening an attempt was made still further to delay the operation of the scheme. This time the argument was raised that the Government did not intend to enforce the Town Planning Act. But as far back as March 1936, at the Municipal Association’s Conference, the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Parry) made his Government’s attitude abundantly clear. “Borough councils and certain other local authorities,” he said, “are now required by the Town Planning Act (1926) to prepare and submit town planning schemes by January 1, 1937. The government is looking to local authorities to carry out this obligation.” In an interview with The Southland Times which is printed this morning Mr Parry reaffirms the Government’s intention to enforce the town planning legislation. The Minister mentions, moreover, that “a number of councils had sent in their proposals to the board and the proposals of a number of others were well on the way to completion” —a statement with which it is difficult to reconcile Cr H. Ritchie s belief that town planning is “a dead letter.” There is, fortunately, a strong group of councillors who have shown that they are not prepared to see the scheme obstructed and abandoned; and they will have the gratitude of future generations as well as of present ratepayers who take a pride in their city’s progress, if they continue to press for its adoption and wise administration.