TOWN PLANNING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 56, 29 November 1946, Page 5

TOWN PLANNING

FUTURE OF OHOPE POSITION OUTLINED At its last meeting, the Whakatane County Council received a reply from the Internal Affairs Department, concerning the question of “town planning” Ohope. The letter intimated that - under ’the Act, the County was a rural area, and that the County Council as the responsible authority, might be called upon to prepare an extraurban scheme for the whole or any part of the County. Before recommending the issue of an Order in Council, the letter continued, the Minister usually feguired a specific repuest from the County Council for such action to be taken. If, therefore, the Council wished to have the Ohope area brought under extra-urban planning control, it would be repuired to pass a resolution requesting the Minister to recommend that an Order in Council be gazetted. With regard to the boundaries of the planning area, it would be as well, if the area proposed to be included, were defined on a map and submitted for consideration for the actual resolution was passed. In the past, it had been found that if the area was limited to that proposed for future settlement, developers sometimes moved outside the extra-urban area, in order to ‘escape planning control. It was the practice, therefore, to define a much large area than that which was proposed for future settlement, that was to include an outer rural belt of one or two miles depth in which subdivision for urban purposes was not allowed, although the ordinary farming pursuits were permitted as of right. It was difficult to estimate accurately, the cost of preparation of such a scheme, as it would depend vefy largely upon the area involved, and also the availability of up-to-date base maps and other necessary information. If maps were available showing contours and other topographical features, and 'also all subdivisions up to date, the work would be considerably simplified. Commenting on the above, the County Clerk said that he did not think it was possible to make much progress until the Wainui deviation had been completed. When this was done, the County boundaries could be defined, and it would be possible to make a complete survey of the whole length of the beach.

Cr McCready strongly advocated the thorough planning and laying out of the area as far as Ohiwa. He contended that the Council should take the long view, and profit by past mistakes.

It was decided to await the fixing of the Wainui highway, and then to make a further approach on the subject.