HUTT RAILWAY DEVIATION

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 183, 5 May 1925, Page 10

HUTT RAILWAY DEVIATION

Sir,—In connection with this scheme it is proposed by the Government Department responsible for the work to ramp Cuba Street to a height of, roughly, 25 feet, at a centre above tlie proposed railway. This will necessitate the road being graded back for several hundred feet on each side, with concrete walls as retainers. Apparently no thought has been given to the owners of properly in this vicinity, whose homes and sections will be so adversely affected by the fact of having 20ft. or more of concrete wall built up in front of their homes, cutting off the sunliglrt and blocking their outlook. The people concerned are all working men, who have put their years of savings into a home of their own, and have by’ their own work and care increased the value of .their holdings. If the proposed plan in regard to Cuba Street is carried out thev must stand by and see the value of their properties depreciated by at least half, and their pleasant homes develop into merely places to live in. It is significant that the Government is offering big prizes for town-planning in one part of New Zealand, and yet at the same time to erect such'a monstrosity as they propose doing on the only direct line of communication between I’etone and Lower Hutt. Just picture what it will look like. I'or a big part of the length proposed in the ramp the wall will be above the roofs of the houses, and you can judge of the effect that will be produced on these properties. Surely with the engineering brains at its disposal the Department can devise a better scheme than this one, which is not only spoiling people’s property in the north end of Petone and in parts of Alicetown, but is also putting a wall between two boroughs that must of necessity in the near future amalgamate for the progress of the Hutt' Valley —I am, etc., CUBA STREET.