COUNCIL TAKEN TO TASK OVER NEW HOTEL SITE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 78, 19 December 1949, Page 4

COUNCIL TAKEN TO TASK OVER NEW HOTEL SITE

Disapproval of the reported attitude of the borough council in the., press last week towards the suggested site for the new hotel ati* Whakatane was expressed by G. Washer at Thursday night’s annual meeting of the Wffiakatane Chamber of Commerce. After reading the account of the mayor and' other councillors’ statements he said he had felt very disheartened f and his feelings were shared by other, residents of Keopecpe ?. Mr Washer said that Wliakatane was spreading towards Kopeopeo and was the only way it could spread. Most of the people in the borough lived in the area and he could not understand why the council wanted them to walk one and a half miles to the business area.

Mr G. A. Wilkes said he did not read anything in the remarks by the council of not wanting Kopeopeo to go ahead. He thought the council was trying to avoid having a long straggling business area. The president, Mr B. Butler, said he did not think there was any suggestion of hindering the profgress of Kopeopeo. ‘ X ~v Referring to the site of the vhowl & Mr Wilkes said there should not be » any opposition to the site until one had actually been selected. Even then it depended more on the person who was going to establish the hotel.

A suggestion was made by Mr M. White that the borough council might take out a licence and run a borough hotel.