Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 57
new-zealand-labour-party
Mon Jun 13 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 57
Monday, 13 June 2011, 12:55 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
13 June 2011 MEDIA STATEMENT
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 57
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: Residents continue to be very concerned that insurance companies are trying to retrofit insurance policies in the wake of the September and February quakes. It should be clear to Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee by now that the biggest danger to Canterbury’s recovery is the growing lack of confidence in insurance companies. As I reported last Friday, I attended a meeting of the Kaiapoi Residents’ Association at which an independent legal representative outlined tactics that are being employed by some insurance companies and their project managers. Two of the clauses that I have already discussed publicly include companies requiring claimants’ EQC payments including the excess to be handed over immediately on receipt; and asking claimants to indemnify insurance companies and their project managers in respect of any breaches when entering into arrangements with third parties. But there are many other worrying clauses as well. One is that the project manager doesn’t warrant the performance by subcontractors. If the project manager isn’t providing a warranty, what does project management actually mean? Another is a clause allowing the project manager to terminate an agreement by notice to the customer. There is no right for the customer to terminate the agreement, but the project manager and insurance company appears to be able to do what they want. No wonder residents are distrustful. There is also a real worry that such clauses could become standard throughout New Zealand in the future. Months ago I asked Gerry Brownlee to help claimants out with access to independent legal advice, but he’s done nothing about it. He cannot continue to ignore the issue and residents’ concerns without slowing down the recovery, I wrote to the Insurance Council last week about the issues, and the council has agreed to meet me tomorrow. I will have more to report after that meeting.
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RUTH DYSON: There has been an interesting reaction to Gerry Brownlee’s opinion piece published in The Press on Land issues. People were really pleased to hear something at last—even though it wasn’t much. The need for time frames remains a pressing concern especially given EQC seem to have stalled their pay-out process and insurance companies are not taking action until the land report is released. A time frame from Gerry Brownlee would be welcomed. I went to a meeting on Saturday with Avoca Valley residents who have been adversely affected by rock fall issues. Many remain out of their homes. We had a really good presentation from the geotech team and the council. Their contributions illustrated how important face to face information is to people. It was clear at that meeting that many people don’t know about the government accommodation grant. For many the insurance accommodation money is coming to an end more swiftly than anticipated or without warning. It is essential that those out of their homes are clear on when insurance cover runs out. The Governments temporary accommodation assistance package is available to aid the transition but these need to be applied for one month before the existing insurance cover runs out. Information about the package and the amounts you can claim is available at http://www.quakeaccommodation.govt.nz/apply.html. Hard copies can be obtained from any of the EQR Hubs or at our offices. This is really important I am writing to all my Residents Associations, churches and schools making sure they have the update on the two Red Cross grants that are available and that they know about the government grant. It is terrible to hear that people are making do in poor living conditions because they are scared that their accommodation compensation will run out.
LIANNE DALZIEL: I attended a couple of events over the weekend that were designed to engage with the community over the central city recovery plan (Share an Idea Workshop held by the CCC) and to re-vision Christchurch (Forum organised by Green List MP Kennedy Graham). Both of them were held against the backdrop of the Minister’s plea for patience over the land report, which still does not have a timeframe attached to it. It is becoming increasingly clear that the government wants to produce a total package for those that will not be able to rebuild their current properties, which is of itself unobjectionable, but is no excuse for not releasing the information they know about what’s happened to the land and how the government will make the decisions they need to make. I appreciate that there are major insurance and reinsurance issues that sit behind the decision around any compensation packages, but I cannot accept that this is a barrier to offering full transparency around the state of the land and how the government will decide the future options. When I hold my next round of meetings I will be inviting Landscape Architect, Di Lucas, who recently released the Black Map showing the underground streams and the nature of the land that Christchurch is built on. Di has spoken about the eastern suburbs and the damage that had been done to the areas that were inter-dune sand flats (Aranui and Wainoni) and the ruptured levees around the changes that were made to the natural course of the river (e.g. at Kerrs Reach). She said that we could divert the water through pipes and put artificial surfaces over them, but it’s not the water in the stream that creates the problem, it’s the sub-strata that forms the corridor of the stream. She said “the memory of the stream remains in the land”. We need to think very carefully about where we rebuild and where we build in the future.
BRENDON BURNS: Today is the first day on the job for CERA CEO Roger Sutton. Labour is very supportive of Roger’s appointment. We know it is instinctive for him to engage with people and give them the best possible information. That is so important at the moment as people continue to wait for the outcome of the land reports and associated negotiations with insurers. We are very ready to work with Roger and assist him with his task leading Canterbury’s recovery. One early challenge for Roger is what can be done to ensure good design principles can be required of new buildings proposed to replace those that have to come down. I have seen sketch plans for the building which will replace the Whitcoulls building in Cashel Mall. I showed the sketch to my staff this morning and the unprompted reaction was “sterile”, “ho hum” and “boring.” Over the weekend I attended one of the council’s Share an Idea Public Workshop, contributing ideas as council brings together the recovery plan for the inner city. This is a fantastic opportunity for us all to have our say; one problem is that the council will not report to CERA until the end of the year – and it then needs to enact the plan. In the interim, there seems very little constraint on new building design. We’ve already seen plenty of examples of this laissez-faire approach to planning – the ugly Rebel sports bunker building on Colombo St being a notorious example. Given we are losing 1000+ buildings in the CBD, we urgently need some signal of design coherency; otherwise we risk the tilt slab monstrosities and glass boxes dotting every street in inner Christchurch.These issues are on the agenda for the weekly meeting of IConIC, tonight 5.30pm, above Tiffany’s restaurant on Oxford Tce, along with the Government’s flat rejection of a proposal from inner city business owners who suggested access to capital via mechanisms like low-interest loans was necessary for the rebuild of Christchurch’s CBD.
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