Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1943. DEVELOPING OHOPE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 16, 5 November 1948, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1943.

DEVELOPING OHOPE

A well-attended meeting of ratepayers at Ohope on Wednesday night decided to take the, preliminary steps to have the properties east of the Hostel formed into a special rating area. The object is to provide urgent-ly-needed improvements, particularly to the roadway through the settlement. It has long been recognised by the Whakatane County Council that Ohope is worthy of better roading facilities than it has; also that a system of storm water drainage would be a great asset. But it has not been possible to provide those special amenities out of ordinary riding funds. When one realises that Ohope lies in the Taneatua riding of the County, one will readily understand why. Naturally, necessary access' roads to serve the rural community must be regarded as priority works. After all, the chief raison d’etre of a County Council is to provide that sort of service. , Ohope’s ratepayers are to be congratulated on the progressive step they have taken. There is no doubt that they will have the unqualified support of the Council and the fullest co-operation of the County’s officers. When Edgecumbe did the same thing a short time ago, it was recognised as an important milestone in the township’s growth, and evidence of a live and constructive public - spiritedness amongst its citizens. The same can now be said of Ohope. But it does seem a shame that the western end of the Beach settlement could not be included in the scheme as well. However, the fact that there is no dedicated road there at the moment would seem to make its participation futile. As regards that problem, there is a long record of effort frustrated by apathy. There have been attempts to get unanimitv on the question of the dedication and forming of a proper road, but the difficulty always has been with absentee owners who were either not available to give assent or not interested in Ohope as anything other than a sort of rustic holiday resort. There might even be some who consider that proper roading facilities would bring with them other amenities that would detract from the present idyllic

setting and develop the place into more of a suburb' than a peaceful place where tired town dwellers can get away from suburban boredom and convention From the purely aesthetic point of view, that opinion, if any of the owners do hold it, has something to commend it. But it is not altogether a public - spirited opinion, and it does not face the fact that progress will inevitably come. Though there might be grounds for criticism of such an action in that it would mean the spending of County funds on what some of the rural ratepayers might regard as unnecessary facilities for mere holiday makers, the taking of land for a road under the Public Works Act has been seriously suggested by some of the property* owners in the “1 to 58” area. Their argument is that now they are paying County rates for which they get nothing in return. That is true. But the fault is not the Council's.