Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 40
new-zealand-labour-party
Wed May 11 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 40
Wednesday, 11 May 2011, 1:13 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
11 May 2011
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 40
The Labour Party’s Christchurch electorate MPs, Clayton Cosgrove (Waimakariri), Ruth Dyson (Port Hills), Lianne Dalziel (Christchurch East) and Brendon Burns (Christchurch Central) have started a regular bulletin to keep people in their electorates and media informed about what is happening at grass roots level.
CLAYTON COSGROVE: At last night’s cross-party briefing with Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee I raised the issue of Fletchers using local contractors. I told Mr Brownlee I thought it would be helpful for everyone if Fletchers could release information about how many jobs have been issued, and how many firms had received those jobs. This would give us all utter clarity as to whether the work is being spread around in an equitable way. It was revealed at last night’s meeting that we now have 50-plus officials working at CERA. The number has grown reasonably rapidly, and while we want CERA to be able to function efficiently, it remains important that it doesn’t turn into a bureaucracy as it goes along. We also received a general update last night on the vexed and worrying situation for so many people concerning the land their houses stand on, or used to stand on. We accept more technical work still has to be done, but we emphasised to Mr Brownlee how important it is that this information is delivered to people on a personal basis and in a timely way. It is important that Mr Brownlee and CERA develop a communications strategy that achieves this, but we have yet to see any progress on that happening.
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BRENDON BURNS: It is enormously disappointing to have confirmed that Fletchers hasn’t even come close to meeting its own target, outlined three weeks ago, to have installed 4,500 priority heating units across Christchurch by the middle of this month. It has in fact only installed 1,512 heat pumps and 313 burners. This, sadly, is no surprise. I have been suggesting since late last year that the programme to replace damaged chimneys with new heaters was not working. The Chimney Replacement scheme was launched ten days after the September quake but by Christmas not one heater had been installed, with EQC and EECA bogging it down in bureaucracy at the very time when the industry had capacity to assist. Fletchers got the job in January, but has done little better. In mid-April it was saying 4,500 priority homes would have new heaters by mid this month, but what Fletchers seemed to ignore was that at this time of year, heat pump and burner installers are flat tack; they simply don’t have huge spare capacity to deal with thousands of quake-related claims. The combined efforts of EECA and Fletchers have barely delivered heaters to a third of those on the “priority’ list that emerged after the September quake had brought down 20,000+ chimneys. February 22 brought down 10,000 more. In mid-April, Fletchers had processed 10,000 chimney claims out of 22,000 households which had applied. I understand that there have been many more claims in the last three weeks. While some may not qualify or have applied twice, sorted themselves out or left town, we are still left with the awful reality that fewer than 10 per cent of those who have applied have new heaters. The figures suggest many thousands will have to live without proper heating through much, if not all, winter. Meanwhile, it is encouraging to learn CERA hopes to have all dangerous damaged buildings in Cashel Mall pulled down or made safe by mid-July. I understand CERA plans to work clockwise from Cashel Mall as it works through the list of around 900 buildings identified for demolition (a number which is likely to rise as insurers assess their options.) The plan is to have Cashel Mall reopened in late October to coincide with Cup and Show Week, and Canterbury Anniversary Day. That will be an important symbol to us all about how we can rebuild and reopen our city.
RUTH DYSON: I had leave from Parliament yesterday to attend a series of community meetings. Some interesting questions arose, some of which I have answers to, and others I will be chasing up. The meeting with the Spreydon-Heathcote community board and local Sydenham business people was the first step in the Sydenham section of the recovery plan, it was really exciting and uplifting for everyone there. It felt like we were starting the walk along the path forward, rather than reviewing the rubble. The two men who led the discussion, Mark Rushworth and Richard Ball, explained that of the 150 suburban centres in Christchurch, 60 have significant damage, and all are going to be tasked with either preparing their own plan, or have a case managed approach to rebuild/recovery. This seems like a well thought out and organised approach. These 60 communities will have some community process to have a say in what happens in the future, and in the most significant areas, this will then be reported to CERA and, if appropriate, will become a formal part of the recovery plan This means that what the community has agreed as its vision for the future will automatically (by virtue of the CERA signoff) become the new “rules” for the area. This is a great opportunity and, if taken up properly, will really strengthen the community involvement and quality of the future shape of our suburbs. I also went to a meeting with community and residents’ organisations covering the Sumner/Redcliffs/Heathcote area, and the meeting made it clear they wanted the chance to have a say about the future in the same way Spreydon-Heathcote is. Last evening I also attended a public meeting hosted by the Avon Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust, where three scientists discussed the massive improvement in water quality in the Estuary as a result of the move to the Ocean outfall, and the subsequent decline in quality since the February earthquake Over 100 people attended the meeting. Those present, including me, were really impressed with the quality of the presentations, and also the depth of research in relation to the Avon and Heathcote rivers and the Estuary. We are passionate about these features of our region.
LIANNE DALZIEL: I was pleased to see in this morning’s paper the Government’s chief scientist Sir Peter Gluckman talking about the realities that may face many Cantabrians as they deal with the emotional fallout of the quakes, the aftershocks and the losses they have suffered. He referred to the ‘heroic’ stage where everyone essentially pitched in, followed by a honeymoon period, but after that comes ‘disillusionment’ – and unfortunately, because many of my constituents were hard hit in the first earthquake, they were already disillusioned well before February 22. For them the final stage, the light at the end of the tunnel, is a long way off. Peter Gluckman emphasised how important it was that we worked closely and honestly together to ameliorate the effects of this emotional fallout. That is why I have asked for close engagement with communities over the decisions about their suburbs. Sir Peter also talked about how important it was to have what I have been calling milestones – I went to the re-opening of Tiffany’s Restaurant in town a couple of weeks ago – and it does help us feel like things are getting back to normal, before we have to confront the reality of our ‘new kind of normal’. And that is where transparency comes in – we need transparent information so we can have a say. An example of what can go wrong (fingers crossed it may be fixed) occurred when the Department of Building & Housing allowed the CCC to “consult” on the location of a temporary village in Rawhiti Domain placing the houses over the top of the only archery target range that meets the international standard in the whole of the South Island. The Government and the council need to do better than that.
ENDS
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