Council has taken steps to stop old buildings being moved to residential areas where they would detract from the general appearance of those areas.

At Wednesday night’s works committee meeting, council agreed to ask for a clause in the town planning ordinance safeguarding residential areas from having old houses dumped in them.

The matter arose when council had to consider four applications to move buildings, with a letter from eleven persons objecting to removal of an old weatherboard home from Burrawan Street to Cross Street. Council approved the removal of the four buildings subject to certain conditions.

Ald. Adams said he protested against council’s policy to allow removal of second-hand buildings. He said there was not one alderman who does not live in a modern home - how would they feel if an old house was dumped beside them?

Mr. W. B. de la Rue said council’s solicitor has advised that council could only make the removal subject to these houses being brought to the same standard as buildings near it.

He said that all buildings were being shifted from highly-valued to less highly valued areas anyway. Mr. de la Rue said that in many cases, it was far more economical to shift a house than to build a new one, and the only way council could stop this practice was to make it uneconomic, through stringent conditions.

Mr. W. G. Alcock, town clerk, said the only way to stop it was to amend the town planning ordinance. He said the ordinance already provides that no building can be moved unless with council’s authority, and council can take into consideration the development of adjacent land.

Ald. Cooper said that the economic life of a building was said to be 25 years, and council could stipulate that buildings older than this could not be moved. He said however, that these amendments cannot affect the applications before council and moved for their approval, subject to conditions laid down by the municipal health surveyor. This was carried.

Horses on footpaths

The town clerk and engineer are to meet the president and secretary of the Pony Club, as well as Mr. Pat Murphy, of the riding school, to get their co-operation in having young riders keep their horses off footpaths.

This action was decided on by council’s works committee last Wednesday night. Council had before it a letter from Mrs. D. R. Millett, requesting permission to erect notice on a pole outside her house in an effort to stop people riding horses on her footpath.

The mayor, Ald. A. L. Crisp, said that people can be prosecuted for riding on footpaths or council’s reserves. Ald. Brien said that quite a lot of horses on Town Beach had been worsening the mud there. He said that there were some cases where the youngsters would have to ride on the footpath.

The municipal engineers, Mr. E. F. Grogan, said a footpath could not be defined unless there was a concrete pathway, or kerbing and guttering was laid. Council decided to approach the Pony Club and riding school on the motion of Ald. Brien.