STATE HOUSING PLANS

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24896, 8 June 1946, Page 8

STATE HOUSING PLANS

SETTLEMENTS ROUND CHRISTCHURCH

, DEVELOPMENT OF NEW AREAS The Housing Department has no concrete plans for large housing settlements round Christchurch, but intends to work intimately with the Christchurch Metropolitan Town Planning Committee in the development of housing areas on which there is land for 32,000 houses. The Government may buy large areas of this land, develop it. retain some for State houses, and sell the balance for private purposes. This information was given to the North Canterbury regional planning conference yesterday by the Director of Housing Construction (Mr G. W. Albertson). Mr Albertson said the people who planned Christchurch 100 years ago had done a good job, and to-day Christchurch was the most forward centre in town planning in New Zealand. Christchurch had prepared a plan which envisaged a future population of 280.000. Up to now the Housing Construction Department had been tilling in vacant spaces in the city, but those were coming to an end, and now it would have to go out into the extensions planned by the town planning committee. The department recognised that it would have to work more intimately with the town planning committee in seeing what shape Christchurch was going to be. At present the department was limited by the shortage of materials.

Mr Albertson said there were 2500 State houses in Christchurch and 512 under construction. The department was servicing land for another 1000. Now it had to look for further areas on which houses should be built, whoever built them. Mr Albertson suggested that the Government might buy the land and develop it. It could use the developed areas either for building State houses or for selling back to the public for private building. The Government had decided to oo that round Wellington.