OHOPE ROADING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 61, 2 April 1943, Page 5

OHOPE ROADING

GOVERNMENT QUERIES ALLOCATION IMPROVEMENTS HELD UP The recent decision of the Whakatane County Council to allocate £729 of unexpended! loan monies towards the carrying out of much needled road improvements has' been held up by the local Government Loans Board and 1 referred back for reconsideration. Thus the Council's endeavour to bring about better roading facilities for the resort before the winter has been more or less nullified'. The Board's letter refers to a report on Ohope indicating its rapid growth and suggesting that the Council before commencing any roading improvements should seek the advice of a* Town Planning Officer to ensure, that development took place on proper lines. In order to give: the Board a better picture of the ruling conditions at Ohope the Council in seeking to prosecute its. original intentions for the betterment of the beach road has Avrittcn setting out the urgency of the case. Sandy Muddy Road "The population of Oliopc,"' runs the letter, "is now approximately 300 persons and that population has only a sandy muddy road to traverse in Avct weather, there being | hardly any footpath accommodation. Furthermore as respecting streams, on occasions such streams for short periods are impassable and it is not unknown for motor vehicles: to* be stranded in them. The Council is definitely not in accord with your Board's suggestion that the present time would not appear opportune for carrying out only a portion of the proposal. "In the penultimate paragraph of your letter you state that the rapid growth of Ohope pointed to the desirability of the Council's seeking town planning service. It is the Council's intention' when the zoning of the township is being undertaken, to engage such advice. However the Council's proposals: deal with the more or l'ess straight road serving the beach residences. The | advice the Council has already received indicates that the bridging of the streams and the formation and kerbing of footpaths—the roadsides in several places are still in scrub and in the rough—are not works to which town planning advice really applies. Possible Highway "It is known that the Main High* ways Board has proposals which envisage the deviation of the Whaka-tanc-Opotiki State Highway. If it is that such Board indicates that this work will be proceeded, with immediately after the war, then the Council will he happy to delete the first two items of its estimate which deal with road formation and met,-/ ailing. This deletion wil'l be made even although during the wet weather the road cuts up to an alarming extent and becomes in several places a veritable quagmire. In a growing township the size of Ohope this is of course a most undesirably feature. It is the Council's policy to undertake roading works as far as possible as a charge on current revenue. "However as respecting this present application the Ohope. ratepayers contend, that they have not received any benefit from the 1918 £80,000 loan of which the £30,400 loan mentioned herein forms a part. The Council appreciates that they are correct in this contention in that when the £80,000 1918 loan was authorised, the rateable valuation of the Ohope Beach area was a maU tcr of a few hundred pounds, while the rateable, unimproved value of the area to-day is' over £23,000 i Because of the low rating values in 1918 no portion of the £80,000 loan was allocated for expenditure at Ohope, and it is for the purpose of rectifying this that the present application is before you. "With this further explanation the Council has submitted the Council respectfully trusts that your Board, will be prepared now to approve of its proposals. "In conclusion, in submitting the comprehensive, schedule it did, envisaging an ultimate expenditure of £28(>8, the Council was safeguarding its being able to expend the £729 4s 5d to the best advantage, and having regard to the national emergency, as opportunity offers, in accord with the expressed wishes of the residents and the Ohope Ratepayers' Association, in collaboration with the Riding Councillor."