BUILDING PERMITS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4220, 6 December 1939, Page 6

BUILDING PERMITS

ENFORCING BOROUGH BY-LAWS. VERY CASUAL OBSERVANCE. It appeared during a discussion at the local Borough Council meeting on Monday evening, that the borough bylaws respecting building permits were more honoured in the breach than in the observance thereof. In fact, there was an inference that “raffety rules” apply that buildings are partly erected before permits are even applied for; that plans lodged with the Council are not complied with in the actual construction, and that there is defiance of the Council’s requirements. When an application for a building permit for a section in Totara Street was read, the Mayor asked councillors to remember the provisions of the building by-laws which bear on sections affected by “panhandle” subdivisions or sections less than a quarter of an acre in area. The town clerk read the by-laws. It was mentioned that the application concerns a section of about oneeighth of an acre. The small size was, said a councillor, necessary because a house was built 4ft on the wrong section. The Borough Council should have known of this happening. Councillors said they had no knowledge of this, which prompted the remark that the statement may be worthy of investigation. • The Mayor said it was about time the Council required that permits to build must be obtained before any erection work is commenced. Time after time work was started, and then application made for a permit. More than once It was found that the building did not comply with the by-law, but rather than impose a hardship the Borough Council was urged not to enforce the by-laws. Builders were often at fault. Plans were submitted for approval, but later it was found the plans were incorrect, probably deliberately. It was time that the Council faced the position. The application in the present case was refused, it being felt that no real effort had been made to comply with the by-laws and it was about time public attention was called to a state of affairs that needed rectification.