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Norman Kirk and Rolleston New Town
Description
NameNorman Kirk and Rolleston New Town
DescriptionNorman Kirk (1923 - 1974) was born in Waimate, and educated in Christchurch at Linwood Avenue School until the age of 12. Self-educated and voracious reader, he became mayor of Kaiapoi, MP for Sydenham and then Lyttleton before he became prime minister for 21 months from 8 December 1972 to his death on 31 August 1974.
As New Zealand’s 29th Prime Minister, Kirk was known as ‘Big Norm’. He was big in many ways – tall, statuesque, charismatic and determined. He had a big heart and an even bigger appetite for hard work.
A Canterbury working class man of the people, Kirk was committed to social justice, freedom and security for all. He was known for his commitment to equal opportunities, determination, aptitude for hard work, commanding presence and skill as a debater and influencer, at times through stealth.
He grew up in poverty in Linwood, which he remembered as a grim, joyless ‘filing cabinet’ dormitory suburb from where workers travelled to the city. In contrast, his vision for the New Town of Rolleston was as a thriving community, where families and industry could prosper.
Kirk was a man in a hurry. The new Labour Government of 1972 came to power with the slogan ‘It’s Time’ and from the start of his 21 months as Prime Minister, he was 100% focused on delivering the many election promises in his ‘Red Book’. Kirk’s deputy and Minister of Works, Hugh Watt, immediately started planning the New Town of Rolleston, researching all aspects and drawing up a detailed map of its layout.
A long-time Canterbury resident, Kirk felt that the urban sprawl of Christchurch was problematic – he was concerned that its ‘urban fence’ was encroaching on valuable farmland. Sections and homes were becoming unaffordable for residents, as well as public services and communities becoming compromised, leading to social issues and isolation. He saw the need for ‘breathing space’ for the city – which he spoke about being squeezed into an 'undersized corset', its agony reflected in having to clear houses to widen roads.
While Kaiapoi, Rangiora and Woodend were considered initially, Rolleston was chosen to fulfil Kirk’s vision for a neighbouring integrated satellite city to Christchurch, as it was considered to best support urban development. This was because of it’s location on a principal transport axis, its distance from Christchurch would enable a belt of separation to be maintained, as well as access to central city employment and services by Rolleston residents. It was also sited on poorer agricultural soils and had already started to develop in the previous decade. (Tania Foster, 1999 p.17)
Rolleston ‘New Town’ was a project that was true to Kirk’s ideology, with his emphasis on regional development, putting local issues into a wider context, and certainty that central government could provide housing and opportunities for all. As a committed working class South Islander, he could see the benefit of satellite cities (such as the way Porirua supported Wellington) at a time when the urban development of Christchurch put affordable housing out of reach for many. He also thought that the project would counteract the migration of people from North to South, balancing the rapid pace of development in Auckland. He stated that, unlike Porirua, Rolleston needed to be urgently built as an integrated community in its own right – it ‘would not be built as a work-force ‘filing-cabinet’’ ...places that the workforce go home to be out of the way after working in a nearby city’.
More negatively, the secretive way the project was communicated and rolled out displayed Kirk’s hurried determination and propensity for stealth in an electorate that was one of the National Party’s safest seats, with a general election on the horizon in 1975.
‘Satellite City for Christchurch’ read the headline in The Press on 30 November 1973, outlining the new town boundaries and featuring the remarks of Hugh Watt, Minister of Works and Development, advising the way the new town would provide balanced urban development, a centre of employment and community, as well as reducing congestion in Christchurch; and threats to its green belt through urban sprawl.
The previous day, a bombshell letter dropped through the letterboxes of 170 Rolleston landowners, informing them that the Government was to buy their land under the Public Works Act: 4,000 hectares in total, for the proposed new city of 80,000 people. Farming within the new boundaries would end, leaving only existing houses. There had been no advice, consultation or warning – even local government and the Christchurch Regional Planning Authority was taken by surprise - yet the amount of secret research and planning that had gone on behind the scenes was remarkable.
110 objections were lodged, and the Government was accused of undermining the democratic process, -but the Government pressed on with land purchase. By August 1974, 400 acres had been purchased, but by the end of the month Norman Kirk had died. The National party, led by Robert Muldoon won the election on 29 November 1975, by which time 1265 hectares had been bought, over 70 properties.
The Rolleston Planning Group, formed in December 1973 worked hard to communicate through a public relations campaign to address the initial lack of public discussion about the project, and seek feedback from interested individuals. (Tania Foster, 1999 p.38)
Almost two years to the day that the plans for Rolleston ‘New Town’ were announced, on 5 December 1975 the incoming National government scrapped them (just as in 1972 the incoming Labour government had campaigned against and scrapped the raising of Lake Manapouri): National had campaigned against it, and always been politically opposed to it, calling the project “plastic” and an “expensive mistake’. Muldoon said that Rolleston was ‘ill- conceived and inappropriate to the development needs of Christchurch in particular, and the South Island’. This anti-Rolleston position was a political ploy to attract voters who felt that the Government’s unilateral ‘New Town’ decision had removed their right to have a say in their future (Tania Foster, 1999 p.43).
‘Some people seem to think that Rolleston was some kind of gift of an industrial city for the South Island but that’s not what it is. It is supposed to be a safety valve for Christchurch’ - 6 December 1975 – Councillor R. C. Dunn.
The impact of the cancellation of the Kirk plan dramatically altered the fabric of the Rolleston community: it froze development and resulted in many absentee landlords and the loss of local families who had fostered the heart of the township, some over three generations, contributing to local initiatives and fundraising. For the next two decades, Rolleston stayed in a state of limbo, residential development prevented by the 1976 Ellesmere County Council zoning decision known as Rural X which confined development to farming only. New growth in the town did not take place until Scheme Change 10 was enacted in September 1994, when it was decided that ‘natural growth’ of the town should be planned for (Tania Foster, 1999 p.52).
For local landowners, Kirk’s vision of Rolleston as a new town was good but too grandiose (Tania Foster, 1999 p.88). The secrecy and lack of public consultation on the decision, coupled with the dictatorial way that the Public Works Act was used to seize land, meant it was seen to be forced on the community, rather than as a result of public demand.
In 1989 Rolleston became home to the new Selwyn District Council and by 2000 the population had risen to about 2,000. After the Canterbury earthquakes it reached 10,000 and as of June 2022, it stood at 28,000. Although not on the scale originally envisioned, Rolleston is indeed now a thriving hub for families and industry that Kirk foresaw.
DescriptionNorman Kirk (1923 - 1974) was born in Waimate, and educated in Christchurch at Linwood Avenue School until the age of 12. Self-educated and voracious reader, he became mayor of Kaiapoi, MP for Sydenham and then Lyttleton before he became prime minister for 21 months from 8 December 1972 to his death on 31 August 1974. As New Zealand’s 29th Prime Minister, Kirk was known as ‘Big Norm’. He was big in many ways – tall, statuesque, charismatic and determined. He had a big heart and an even bigger appetite for hard work.
A Canterbury working class man of the people, Kirk was committed to social justice, freedom and security for all. He was known for his commitment to equal opportunities, determination, aptitude for hard work, commanding presence and skill as a debater and influencer, at times through stealth.
He grew up in poverty in Linwood, which he remembered as a grim, joyless ‘filing cabinet’ dormitory suburb from where workers travelled to the city. In contrast, his vision for the New Town of Rolleston was as a thriving community, where families and industry could prosper.
Kirk was a man in a hurry. The new Labour Government of 1972 came to power with the slogan ‘It’s Time’ and from the start of his 21 months as Prime Minister, he was 100% focused on delivering the many election promises in his ‘Red Book’. Kirk’s deputy and Minister of Works, Hugh Watt, immediately started planning the New Town of Rolleston, researching all aspects and drawing up a detailed map of its layout.
A long-time Canterbury resident, Kirk felt that the urban sprawl of Christchurch was problematic – he was concerned that its ‘urban fence’ was encroaching on valuable farmland. Sections and homes were becoming unaffordable for residents, as well as public services and communities becoming compromised, leading to social issues and isolation. He saw the need for ‘breathing space’ for the city – which he spoke about being squeezed into an 'undersized corset', its agony reflected in having to clear houses to widen roads.
While Kaiapoi, Rangiora and Woodend were considered initially, Rolleston was chosen to fulfil Kirk’s vision for a neighbouring integrated satellite city to Christchurch, as it was considered to best support urban development. This was because of it’s location on a principal transport axis, its distance from Christchurch would enable a belt of separation to be maintained, as well as access to central city employment and services by Rolleston residents. It was also sited on poorer agricultural soils and had already started to develop in the previous decade. (Tania Foster, 1999 p.17)
Rolleston ‘New Town’ was a project that was true to Kirk’s ideology, with his emphasis on regional development, putting local issues into a wider context, and certainty that central government could provide housing and opportunities for all. As a committed working class South Islander, he could see the benefit of satellite cities (such as the way Porirua supported Wellington) at a time when the urban development of Christchurch put affordable housing out of reach for many. He also thought that the project would counteract the migration of people from North to South, balancing the rapid pace of development in Auckland. He stated that, unlike Porirua, Rolleston needed to be urgently built as an integrated community in its own right – it ‘would not be built as a work-force ‘filing-cabinet’’ ...places that the workforce go home to be out of the way after working in a nearby city’.
More negatively, the secretive way the project was communicated and rolled out displayed Kirk’s hurried determination and propensity for stealth in an electorate that was one of the National Party’s safest seats, with a general election on the horizon in 1975.
‘Satellite City for Christchurch’ read the headline in The Press on 30 November 1973, outlining the new town boundaries and featuring the remarks of Hugh Watt, Minister of Works and Development, advising the way the new town would provide balanced urban development, a centre of employment and community, as well as reducing congestion in Christchurch; and threats to its green belt through urban sprawl.
The previous day, a bombshell letter dropped through the letterboxes of 170 Rolleston landowners, informing them that the Government was to buy their land under the Public Works Act: 4,000 hectares in total, for the proposed new city of 80,000 people. Farming within the new boundaries would end, leaving only existing houses. There had been no advice, consultation or warning – even local government and the Christchurch Regional Planning Authority was taken by surprise - yet the amount of secret research and planning that had gone on behind the scenes was remarkable.
110 objections were lodged, and the Government was accused of undermining the democratic process, -but the Government pressed on with land purchase. By August 1974, 400 acres had been purchased, but by the end of the month Norman Kirk had died. The National party, led by Robert Muldoon won the election on 29 November 1975, by which time 1265 hectares had been bought, over 70 properties.
The Rolleston Planning Group, formed in December 1973 worked hard to communicate through a public relations campaign to address the initial lack of public discussion about the project, and seek feedback from interested individuals. (Tania Foster, 1999 p.38)
Almost two years to the day that the plans for Rolleston ‘New Town’ were announced, on 5 December 1975 the incoming National government scrapped them (just as in 1972 the incoming Labour government had campaigned against and scrapped the raising of Lake Manapouri): National had campaigned against it, and always been politically opposed to it, calling the project “plastic” and an “expensive mistake’. Muldoon said that Rolleston was ‘ill- conceived and inappropriate to the development needs of Christchurch in particular, and the South Island’. This anti-Rolleston position was a political ploy to attract voters who felt that the Government’s unilateral ‘New Town’ decision had removed their right to have a say in their future (Tania Foster, 1999 p.43).
‘Some people seem to think that Rolleston was some kind of gift of an industrial city for the South Island but that’s not what it is. It is supposed to be a safety valve for Christchurch’ - 6 December 1975 – Councillor R. C. Dunn.
The impact of the cancellation of the Kirk plan dramatically altered the fabric of the Rolleston community: it froze development and resulted in many absentee landlords and the loss of local families who had fostered the heart of the township, some over three generations, contributing to local initiatives and fundraising. For the next two decades, Rolleston stayed in a state of limbo, residential development prevented by the 1976 Ellesmere County Council zoning decision known as Rural X which confined development to farming only. New growth in the town did not take place until Scheme Change 10 was enacted in September 1994, when it was decided that ‘natural growth’ of the town should be planned for (Tania Foster, 1999 p.52).
For local landowners, Kirk’s vision of Rolleston as a new town was good but too grandiose (Tania Foster, 1999 p.88). The secrecy and lack of public consultation on the decision, coupled with the dictatorial way that the Public Works Act was used to seize land, meant it was seen to be forced on the community, rather than as a result of public demand.
In 1989 Rolleston became home to the new Selwyn District Council and by 2000 the population had risen to about 2,000. After the Canterbury earthquakes it reached 10,000 and as of June 2022, it stood at 28,000. Although not on the scale originally envisioned, Rolleston is indeed now a thriving hub for families and industry that Kirk foresaw.
Connections
PersonNorman KirkPlaceTauwharekākaho RollestonMore InformationNovember 1972 Cartoon by Eric Heath on Kirk's election winNorman Kirk biography in Te AraNovember 1972 Norman Kirk and Ruth Kirk in the garden with their cat1974 Norman Kirk audio documentary on 33rpm vinyl recordApril 1973 Norman Kirk at the opening of the Coca Cola factory in Hillsborough, Christchurch
PlaceTauwharekākaho RollestonMore InformationNovember 1972 Cartoon by Eric Heath on Kirk's election winNorman Kirk biography in Te AraNovember 1972 Norman Kirk and Ruth Kirk in the garden with their cat1974 Norman Kirk audio documentary on 33rpm vinyl recordApril 1973 Norman Kirk at the opening of the Coca Cola factory in Hillsborough, ChristchurchAttribution
Norman Kirk and Rolleston New Town. Selwyn Stories, accessed 15/12/2025, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5571
