OWNERS MAY NOT BUILD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 612, 14 March 1929, Page 7

OWNERS MAY NOT BUILD

lake pupuke sections early conference urged “It must he distinctly under- i stood that even thouqh the Supremo Court has ruled that sub- | divisional plans must be approved, this does not carry with it any right whatever to build on such subdivisions.*’ This statement was contained in a Tetter received at the meeting of the ; Takapuna Borough Council last even- ! inS from the district medical officer , of health. Dr. 11. Chcsson, in reference i to the subdivision of land on the water- | shed of Lake Pupuke. Dr. Chesson said a strip of land 33 1 feet wide, which the council at its last meeting had decided should be laid off on the boundary of Mr. D. R. O. Mowbray’s land, was not sufficient to protect the lake water from contamination. "A subdivision, therefore, can only be on paper, and on no account ran any practical use be made of it,” said the letter. Any person, therefore, buying land so subdivided within the lake basin must understand clearly that on no account can any permit to build be granted unless the section in question is in such a position that the house thereon can be drained by natural gravitation to sewers actually in existence at the time of the building of the house, outside the lake catchment area.’’ COMMITTEE SUGGESTED The council decided to reply as follows: —• •‘The council welcomes the intervention of the department, particularly the proposals for a conference between the local bodies concerned. It is respectfully urged that such a conference should be convened at an early date. The council fully concurs in the view expressed in the Minister’s letter that landowners who are prevented from using their land for building purposes should be suitably compensated and that the compensation should be paid by- the people who use the water.” Referring to reports that the lake supply is inadequate the council while refraining from expressing any conclusions upon the question of adequacy, considered that before expensive land is purchased to create reserves some effort should be made finally to determine that question and it is suggested that an authoritative report should be made by a committee of, say, three competent engineers, one representing the Public Works Department, one appointed by the Water Board, and one by the North Shore Borough Councils.