LAKE FRONT DEVELOPMENT

Taupo Times, Volume IV, Issue 176, 10 June 1955, Page 4

LAKE FRONT DEVELOPMENT

With its beautiful and unbroken panorama of lake and moun- ' tains, the lake frontage of the town of Taupo is a place whose beauty, actual and potential, may well be the envy of towns less bountifully endowed by Nature. And it is a happy augury for the future that the Borough Council has, as reported elsewhere in this issue of the Times, taken upon itself to plan for the progressive and orderly development of this invaluable asset. Some 30 odd years ago a prominent and far-seeing citizen of Auckland, then a frequent visitor to Taupo, used often to urge local residents to clear the broom and scrub which in many places blocked all view of the lake and mountains from the Lakefront road. But those were days when the infant local body had but • small revenues to spend. In later years the frontage has gradually .been tidied up, and there has always been, in the minds of succeeding members of the Road Board, the Town Board, and the Council, as well as of residents generally, an awareness of the fact that the frontage could and should be made a place of j outstanding beauty. There is no doubt that the present step toward a careful and considered development will meet with widespread approval. Examination of the plan which has been prepared as a basis for j progressive action shows a suggested scheme that appeals as being well-thought out and practical. It is to be hoped that all | residents interested in the future of their town, and its wellbeing, will take time to visit the Borough Offices and examine I the plan. In proposing to apply to the Government for financial sup- J port for the scheme the Council, as the governing body of a tour- f ist and national holiday centre, is on unassailable ground. There I is no need, for support of that statement, to go further than I Rotorua, where for many years Government money has been pro- 1 vided for public amenities, and where today such assistance is I being given for lakefront development. Rotorua has no claira | of this sort that is not equally shared by Taupo, and there is 1 thus every reason to expect that in due course some substantial | subsidy will be forthcoming to enable a start to be made on the 1 Lakefront scheme outlined for the Council by its Town Planning I consultant. - M