WELLINGTON’S TOWN BELT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 153, 24 March 1939, Page 7

WELLINGTON’S TOWN BELT

4 Possibility Of Building Being Permitted COUNCILLOR THINKS DAY WILL COME “I thiuk that the (lay will come when building will, under certain conditions, have to be permitted on certain parts of the Town Belt. When the above remark was made by Mr. M. F. Luekie, who is deputy mayor of Wellington, he had no intention of proposing anything of the kind at present. He was simply stating in so many words which many people have from time to time thought—that the Belt, though it affords a very handsome necklet of green for seven or eight months of the year, is hardly the city lung it was expected to be when the draughtsmen in London demarcated the area at the request of Edward Gibbon Wakelield aud the directors of the New Zealand Company. What is known as the Town Belt is that area of land that girdles the encircling hills above the building line of the city of Wellington. It was dedicated by plan and deed by the founding company for the recreation of the citizens of Wellington for all.time. It is arguable that such dedication may not have been made so rigid bad the directors been able to see 100 years ahead and to visualize a city very much cramped within its borders, so that it must climb into the air to provide the office and living accommodation necessary in a modern city of great potential growth. Indeed, there is chapter and verse for the belief that the Town Belt is not altogether inviolable as slices have already been taken for this aud that purpose, notably for the Victoria College University and Wellington College, and for other purposes not opposed t o the general welfare of the people of Wellington. High-Level Drive.

Such purposes, however, as have in the past been put forward for using areas of the Town Belt have not so far included any scheme of residential building. One of the dreams of those who would exploit the Belt has been to provide it with a high-level road or drive, so that all may see the wild •beauty of the “Windy city of the Strait.” Though expression has never been given to this idea, other roads have been made, notably the Queen Alexandra Drive along the ridge of Mt. Victoria, which gives motorists the opportunity of showing visitors the topography'of the Empire, City and its environs. Possibly the construction of a long and curving high-level road along the inner face of the hills from Roseneath in the east to Wadestown in the west would be a factor in encouraging the people to a desire for higher and better homes than those whicu huddle in the congested ilats below. Others, too, would probably support the proposal to allow building on the Belt on the grounds that its bare brown sides and gorse-ridden flanks —as they are in some places—are not very picturesque and, save for a park or bowling green here and there, are not much used for recreation by the people. The expansion urge has already peopled the Hutt Valley fairly thickly but that district is eight miles from the city, whereas the cable tramway to Kelbtiru has.shown how simple a niattei it is to make certain Town Belt areas available for homes that would be only a few minutes from the city. Below Brooklyn east there are areas of hillside, at present burnt brown, which extend southward to Vogeltown, some of it covered with dark groves of pinus insignia, which, once roaded, would make room for hundreds of new homes. Even parts of the southern hills and Mt. Victoria area might be enhanced by terraces of modern homes, instead of the land being let for grazing purposes for a few shillings a year. Nearly 1000 Acres of Land. Mr. Luekie was not openly advocating breaking down the barriers which protect the Town Belt. He • was simply expressing himself on the manner in which Wellington could expand her residential borders, and that at a time when house hunger is as keen as ever it was and the prospects of being able to accommodate the Exhibition crowd's at the year-end are in mind. There are nearly 1000 acres of laud comprised in the Town Belt.. That area is roughly divided as follows: — Acres. Mr. Victoria district 00 Eastern district 132 Southern district 214 Western district 102 Terrace district 25 Tinakori district 141 Plantation and recreation areas 171 Plantation and quarry 71