Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 53
new-zealand-labour-party
Thu Jun 02 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 53
Thursday, 2 June 2011, 12:25 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
2 June 2011 MEDIA STATEMENT
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 53
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: I am concerned that Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee might be a little premature in celebrating data on consumer spending and company registrations in Christchurch. The latest figures from Paymark show that consumer spending is back to 95 per cent of pre-quake levels, while 255 companies have registered in the area since January. Any good news is welcome, but the other side of the coin is that 1300 businesses have left the region since February, while unemployment has risen almost 20 per cent while going down in the rest of the country. As well, the Government’s business support package abruptly ended and we don’t know yet what impact that decision will have. I attended another large Waimakariri earthquake meeting last night where the same pattern of concerns surfaced. Many people are worried about whether private insurers will provide cover for flood risk if land that has sunk is not restored to its previous height. Others are concerned about the impact on the value of their homes if they happen to have one of two or three homes in a street that have not been rebuilt. How will the value of their place stack up against the surrounding houses? All the reports I am receiving on exer-cyclist Martin Keen are encouraging as he continues his 80-hour non-stop cycling marathon in support of Christchurch Red Cross. Let’s keep supporting him and keep the money rolling in. Christchurch MPs will be meeting Gerry Brownlee next Tuesday, and will seek an update on geotech mapping.
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RUTH DYSON: I had a full day of consultation in Lyttelton yesterday, culminating in a well-attended, energetic and positive public meeting. As with Sydenham, there were consistent views. It is clear that the Port Company needs to work with the community as many ideas are directly related to Port activities ---particularly getting trucks off Norwich Quay! Frustration is increasing in the business and retail community around conflicting information or lack of information, and the council consultation team offered to help resolve these issues, despite it being outside the strict mandate of their work, so gold stars to them! The Red Cross has organised a team of volunteers from Dunedin to work in the Heathcote Community Garden today, so I will be going along to cheer them on – great to have support from outside Christchurch. Then there is another public meeting in Lyttelton, for those unable to get there last night. I also have heard that a lot of people do not know about the government subsidy for accommodation that is available. If you can’t live in your house, the first option is your own insurance. This covers up to around $20,000 generally. After that is used up, there is a government subsidy called Temporary Accommodation Assistance. It is a capped amount - $180.00 a week for a single person, $275.00 for couple without children or sole parent with one dependent child and $330.00 for a family. This assistance is NOT income tested. Many people are living in totally unsatisfactory situations because they don’t know that they can get this help. Tonight, I am attending a meeting with business and property owners from Sydenham, Selwyn Village and Beckenham to discuss the financial aspects of the recovery.
LIANNE DALZIEL: Laura McConchie, (http://www.stuff.conz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/5088721/Scheme-beyond-a-joke ) highlights the problem with the Christchurch City Council’s rates rebate policy. Laura, like so many others, cannot live in her house, yet she doesn’t qualify for the rates rebate because the council made the decision based on incorrect assumptions. I wrote to the council to highlight the problem on 4 February. I accept the next earthquake meant my letter wasn’t responded to then, but the council has since reinstated the policy without correcting the underlying assumptions. Here’s an extract from the letter I wrote:
There is no issue with the rates remission policy with respect to those properties that remained unable to connect to the reticulated wastewater network at 31 October 2010 – the CCC has that information. The issues relate to the evidence required to support the other two categories:
• Evidence that EQC will undertake land remediation – in essence this means that the evidence needs to show that your house will have to be demolished and rebuilt as part of the process of land remediation but as I have said EQC will not necessarily be undertaking land remediation. So EQC cannot provide this evidence. This leads me to wonder if you mean the perimeter treatment works when you say land remediation, however even I am not sure how many houses (if any) would have to be demolished solely for that purpose.
• Evidence from the insurer that the property requires demolishing & rebuilding – it is not clear which insurers are in a position to provide this advice in writing at present.
In both instances the remission applies from the date the property is vacated for demolition purposes or the date the property was assessed as being unsafe to inhabit. The difficulty will be providing evidence of the assessment of the property being “unsafe to inhabit” as many people left their homes immediately after the earthquake and didn’t have a formal assessment done.
I don’t agree with the 40% remission decision (nor do my constituents who have contacted me) – it is very well to say that rates pay for other services, but that is also catered for in the rent that they will be paying for alternative accommodation. I do understand that the CCC had a budget for this financial year, which would have been affected by this decision. I don’t know how many people are out of their houses at present as many are remaining in damaged houses until the demolition/rebuild commences, so it is hard to know the extent of the foregone rates on this year’s budget. The CCC needs to revisit the amount for this year once it knows how many people can’t live in their houses, and also to reconsider the amount of the rebate for the out-years.
BRENDON BURNS: The latest unemployment figures showing Christchurch unemployment has increased by 20% are no real surprise. I am still talking to tradespeople who are finding it enormously frustrating that the flow of work has not yet begun. This morning I was speaking to two architecture design firms who say they are getting little work in the city and for one of them the only current lifeline is designing buildings in rural Canterbury amid expectations that now ---nine months after the September quake--- there would at least be some building work generated by the rebuild. Obviously we know a building boom would occur eventually and realise that some of this has to be delayed while land remediation reports are completed and decisions are made on these issues--- but there are many areas of Christchurch without major land issues where we would have expected building work to be well under way. News yesterday that the Red Cross has confirmed two new grants to help Christchurch residents, the first providing a heating subsidy to people over 65 who are living in a damaged home and the second, labelled a relocation grant, helping children who are commuting a significant distance because of earthquake damage to their houses. There are thousands of Cantabrians still without proper heating and the Government hasn’t said what support is going to be available.
ends
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