Counties Must Decide

The Town and Country Planning Act says that each county and each borough must draw up a plan showing how the land in its area can best be used. So it is, for example, the responsibility of each county council to decide which parts of the county are residential, where you need only a small piece of land to build on, and which are rural, where you must have five or ten acres if you are to build. This decision is not altogether final, because after a period of five years the matter can come up for re-consideration.

If someone wishes to build on a small piece of land in a rural area, and the county council tells him that he cannot do so, he is naturally going to be annoyed. It is inevitable that there should be disagreements about such a very difficult subject. But it is always best at least to know the reasons why such regulations as these exist. That is why this meeting was held at Waihi Village. It is very valuable for people to meet in this way to discuss their problems, and it is to be hoped that there may be meetings of this kind in other parts of the country where similar problems have arisen.