‘Silly’ fencing rules shelved
Palmerston North homeowners have won a victory in the battle against red tape after controversial fencing rules were turfed out.
The rules would have restricted people’s rights to build solid new 1.8-metre fences along their street fronts and facing public parks and open spaces.
The idea was to avoid ‘‘monotonous’’ streets where most houses were walled in.
The proposal, raised in the review of the residential zone section of the District Plan, were labelled ‘‘silly’’ by detractors.
And after resource management commissioners heard submissions opposing the rules in May 2016, they rejected the restrictions.
They said in a decision released on Wednesday they had driven around Palmerston North and found many pleasant streets had significant lengths of high fenced or planted road frontages.
They saw few links between fencing patterns, and what could be described as attractive streetscapes.
‘‘While we understand the (undisputed) urban design evidence that the security, privacy and amenity benefits of high fences are illusory, the fact is that a great many people obviously believe otherwise.
‘‘We are not convinced that the proposed rule is necessary.’’
Submitter Paul Hewitt, who had described the proposals as ‘‘red tape’’, said the decision was ‘‘beautiful’’.
‘‘Do we have a problem? I don’t think so,’’ he said.
Architectural designer Michael Jarvis said people had been ‘‘quite upset’’ about the proposed fencing rules, which would have been impossible to enforce.
‘‘I’m relatively impressed that they listened,’’ he said.
Council planner Matthew Mackay said the commissioners’ decision meant people could have 2m fences around their boundaries so long as they complied with the Building Act.
As well as the fencing rules, proposals restricting the location of garages were a key issue in the review.
The council had proposed garages should be set back 1.5m from the front of the house, to avoid streets being dominated by garages.
But the commissioners found the proposal did not cater for layouts where vehicles entered a garage from the side, not directly from the street.
The final decision was that garages should be set back 3m from the frontage, and 6m where the garage faced the street, to allow room to park a vehicle in front without extending on to the footpath.
Mackay said the plan change would make it easier for people to build a variety of housing to cater for different needs, including multi-unit housing, or a second dwelling on a residential section.
That would help overcome the problem that most new houses were being built with three or four bedrooms, while there was growing demand for smaller units from single people, couples without children, and older people.
Several submitters raised concerns about the impact of infill on the character of some city streets.
The commissioners recommended council planners do further study to identify special character or heritage areas that should be protected. Mackay said that process would start with a review of the Savage Cres conservation area. A tiny Manawatu primary school’s roll has doubled – to two.
As the new school year approached, Cruiz Strickett, 6, was the only child enrolled at Linton Country School, but along with the long-awaited first day, came a friend.
Strickett’s cousin Indica Taylorcollis, 8, was excited about starting a new school on Wednesday, because it would be a chance for her to learn more.
Indica used to share a class with 25 children, but partial deafness meant she could not always hear what was happening.
‘‘It was a bit too loud for me, because I’m half deaf.’’
Ideally, Indica wanted seven more pupils to enrol at the school so she had company, but it was still quiet enough to learn, she said.
In 2016, there were 12 pupils at Linton Country, but this year Cruiz was set to enter the school grounds alone.
After about 40 people rallied to keep the school open, its board made the decision to stick it out.
Cruiz was thrilled to have Indica join in his two favourite activities at school – learning and playing.
It was fun having a friend at the school, he said.
His last school in Upper Hutt was too big and Cruiz was getting lost in a classroom of 30.
‘‘It was noisy. Everyone was yelling in my ears,’’ he said.
Linton Country School, which Cruiz joined midway though 2016, was a place where he enjoyed learning in a smaller class.
Ideally, he would like 100 ‘‘quiet’’
H Apupils on the school roll. Since Monday, the school’s relief teaching principal Gail Dobbin had received about five phone calls from interested parents. ‘‘The roll’s doubled. I hope that continues,’’ she said. When the Manawatu Standard was at the school, Dobbin received another phone call about a prospective pupil. Having more children at the school would be beneficial to learning and allow social-interaction skills to develop, she said.
‘‘But with reading, for instance, they will be at a different level and would learn on their own.’’
It was good to have both options, she said.
Dobbin started working at the school at the end of 2016 and said in her 30 years of teaching across the country, this had been the most wellresourced school.
Ukuleles, six uni-cycles, gear for dozens of sports, laptops and tablets were just some of the resources available, she said.
Massey University associate professor of learning and assessment Roseanna Bourke said a sole child in a rural school would still learn, but it would be more beneficial if more pupils were around.
‘‘We cannot underestimate the power of play in learning and children need other children to fully participate and to be challenged.
‘‘Research with young children shows that peers are incredibly important to their own development and learning,’’ Bourke said.
‘‘It’s not about numbers, but how those interactions for learning are encouraged.’’