The Press MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 1966. The Buchanan Report

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30960, 17 January 1966, Page 10

The Press MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 1966. The Buchanan Report

Professor Colin Buchanans report will greatly strengthen the hand of those who have urged the implementation of the master transport plan for Christchurch which was drawn up three years ago. Professor Buchanan and his associate, Mr G. Crow, find the transportation study to be reliable as far as the case for the central motorways is concerned; and. in particular, they endorse the proposed motorway from Salisbury street across North Hagley Park.

The Buchanan report disagrees with the master transport plan's treatment of the central business area and the “ river precinct ” within the loop of the Avon river to the west. “We do not think it would “ be wise to open up Rolleston avenue by means of “ a bridge at Antigua street The consultants are also critical of the planned treatment of Cathedral square, but they have not —in the short time they have spent in Christchurch —been able to put forward an alternative plan. These criticisms relate to the detail of the plan, and must not be allowed to impede its implementation. The Buchanan report shows sympathy with those who wish to preserve the heritage of Hagley Park, and insists on imaginative landscaping of the motorway—as the original authors of the master transport plan did, and as its supporters have since done.

Professor Buchanan’s stature should carry the day for the proponents of the plan. Christchurch is evolving more rapidly than most of its citizens realise; time is not on our side. The sooner action is taken, the less expensive will it be. The costs of doing nothing to provide for urban growth, and particularly traffic growth, are greater than the costs of planning for growth. The Regional Planning Authority must be given the status and the finance it needs for its work—and the support of all local bodies in its area.

The authority will doubtless take notice of Professor Buchanan’s warning that it is unrealistic to think that a transport plan can be prepared in isolation from consideration of the full range of future development problems. It must consider his recommendation for a full-scale network and environmental study of the whole urban area.