The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1945. PLANNING THE CITY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 228, 26 September 1945, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1945. PLANNING THE CITY

TH 14 decision of the Wanganui City Council to investigate the possibilities of town planning for the city is to be commended. It is not a luxury, but simply the application of human foresight to the developing problems of the community. Wanganui has grown up in a haphazard manner. This to some extent was inevitable. Some areas invited subdivision anil the means of transportation decided which should be the first 1o be developed. Development, in its turn, affected the transport system, and now the tramway line runs from Castlecliff to Aramoho. Throughout the greater portion of that tramline length the population is inadequate for the supply of sufficient, passengers for the trams. The result, from a transport standpoint, is that despite all the ingenuity displayed and economies effected by Mr. A. E. Halligan when a member of the City Council, the trading account of the tramways does not make encouraging reading. The future for Ihe tramways service when other means of transport once more become available is by no means bright. If building operations continue to be carried out without reference to the, means of transportation, the possibility is that the trams will be required to extend their work but at a greater cost to the system. On the other hand, if the city's housing is so planned that the transport system is adapted to future population needs there is a possibility that, the future of the tramways account may be more promising than now appears to be probable. The town planner can provide amenities such as parks and playing fields at convenient intervals in the residential areas. In Palmerston North this has been accomplished in a commendable manner, but in Wanganui, where conditions arc not easy, the situation in this respect will have to be closely watched. More important than the preservation of open spaces within the city, and at the moment more pressing, is the need for a complete survey of the drainage system. This, like, the city, has been enlarged in a somewhat haphazard fashion. It would be impossible to see how this could have been avoided in view of the manner in which the. city grew. But it would appear probable that a survey will reveal the need for large-scale work to be undertaken in respect. to sewage disposal. This will be very costly indeed, and it will be desirable before the, work is undertaken to have a fairly aecurate idea of how the city is going to be developed in the next fifty real's.

Wanganui's population can be expected to increase as the years flow by. There are many encouraging signs in the community to-day. Wanganui could and should become New Zealand’s University town. It has all the possibilities for such a development—transportation, sea. every class of country nearby, and established secondary schools. It would be but a natural development of the institutions already' existing for a University college to be established here. Despite the establishing of Massey College at Palmerston North and the growth of an excellent. Agricultural Technical College at Feilding, it would appear that there is room for the establishing in the Wanganui district of a college which could specialise upon forestry and the farming of second-class and third-class lands. 'When advocating that Massey College should be established in this district. Mr. AV. S. Glenn stressed that the farming of first-class lands presented no major difficulties, but the problems of second and third-class land were yet to be solved. It is on such lands that expansion of agriculture must occur. The dismal history of much of the back country only provides a melancholy endorsement of Mr. Glenn’s advocacy. It is possible that in the House of Representatives some member will undertake, the task of discussing education in a practical manner and particularly agricultural education. Then Mr. Glenn’s advocacy might be repeated and with bettor results. An agricultural college in the vicinity of the city of Wanganui would be the better if it fitted in will) the city’s plan of development. The possibility of the airport being made an operative field and the establishing of a sanitorium would also be required to be incorporated within the plan of the city. The grouping of industries in appropriate sections of the city and the grasping at the problem of beautifying the river banks and providing two boulevard drives should also find appropriate places in the plan of the city of the future. In the years between the two wars Britain rehoused one-third of her population, and at the outbreak of war was building houses at the rate of one million in three years. Flats have become more popular because of their relative lower cost compared with that of a small house. The houses in Wanganui vary in age from new to sixty years old: it is clear that a rebuilding programme will have to bo contemplated in the near future. Ts this rebuilding to follow existing lines or will the higher building costs compel attention being given to the erection of blocks of flats? If such a development is likely then the location of the flat area must be decided on and arrangements made in the planning of the streets to carry the larger population and traffic that would result from putting homes one on top of another.for five and possibly six storeys.

Whatever may be the prospective avenue of development which is brought within the purview of a city plan,'it is clear that in the future living together in urban conditions will undergo marked changes. To ignore, tlie results of those changes and. more important at. the moment, the requirements of such changes, would be an unwise policy. Mistakes may bo made by the city planner, but lie can claim at least one virtue, that he has used his best endeavours to meet changing circumstances in city life.