Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 119
new-zealand-labour-party
Thu Sep 29 2011 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 119
Thursday, 29 September 2011, 12:35 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Christchurch
LABOUR MPs
29 September 2011
Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 119
A regular bulletin started by the Labour Party’s Christchurch electorate MPs, Clayton Cosgrove (Waimakariri), Ruth Dyson (Port Hills), Lianne Dalziel (Christchurch East) and Brendon Burns (Christchurch Central) to keep people in their electorates and media informed about what is happening at grass roots level.
CLAYTON COSGROVE:
Yesterday I was at a function where a Waimakariri District Councillor reminded me that it has been well over a month since Environment Minister Nick Smith rushed down to Kaiapoi, cameras clicking, to tell everyone that he would be giving the Council and Christchurch International Airport Limited (CIAL) one month to come to a compromise over CIAL’s noise restrictions, which have stifled residential development in Northern Kaiapoi. Otherwise the Government would use its powers to intervene under the CERA Act. The problem lies with CIAL’s overly restrictive decibel noise limit that restricts residential development within the airport’s 50 decibel noise contour. No other airport company in the world uses such a stringent noise limit to restrict residential development and as a result large areas of land around Kaiapoi and in north Christchurch have been prevented from being developed because of the airport company’s stringent opposition. Given the urgent need to free up affordable land for housing in Canterbury, many people, including me, welcomed Nick Smith’s promise to act, but 5 weeks on they are quite rightly asking what’s happened. After the cameras had stopped clicking and the crown cars had left Kaiapoi we are no further ahead and there doesn’t appear to be any deal on the table. So far the Government has been conspicuous by its absence in terms of using any of its war-time powers under the CERA Act for this or any other issue. Over two years ago I drafted a member’s bill to sort this issue out. At the time I was rubbished by the Government, particularly Nick Smith, even though my bill created a win-win for land-owners, residents and for the airport company. I sent a copy of my bill to Gerry Brownlee over a month ago offering my support if he wished to adopt it or if he wished to use his powers to solve the problem. To date I have had no reply. As is becoming the normal modus operandi for the Government, there’s a big puff of hot air, lots of photo opportunities, lots of calls for action, and occasionally the odd hint of a threat. At the end of the day nothing happens.
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BRENDON BURNS:
Residents in St Albans and Richmond are feeling they live in a forgotten suburb. Avonside, also in my electorate, has had its fair share of media attention but the other side of the river, with similar damage, has barely been visited; nor to date has it seen the same level of community engagement by agencies such as CERA. Yet the quakes’ aftermath is often just as profound. One Richmond family I visited this week has been sleeping on their lounge floor since February; the bedrooms are badly slumped and they fear a sink hole lies beneath them. Families living in such damaged homes are desperate for the geotechnical information on the status of their land which the Government refuses to release. When you are orange zoned and told it may be Christmas before you will know the fate of your property – red or green – the stress created is just awful. Others who are green-zoned are very uneasy about what this means. Getting community briefings has been difficult; civil servants are there to serve if so instructed. I am working with the community to bring together meetings. One, to address insurance and EQC issues, is confirmed for 11am–12.30pm on Saturday October 8 at the Edgeware Bowling Club. At least two major insurers, AA and AMI, will attend. John Sullivan from the Canterbury Law Centre will provide free legal advice available on dealing with insurers. EQC has been invited. A second meeting, date yet to be confirmed, will see CERA invited to tell us about the geotechnical assessments which have deemed most St Albans and some Richmond homes safe to repair or rebuild, while others are orange-zoned. People are desperate for more information and deserve to get it.
LIANNE DALZIEL:
I was more than a little taken aback at the extraordinary lecture I received from the Prime Minister yesterday for daring to question him about what the government was doing to respond to calls for government intervention to ensure a functional insurance market, without which Christchurch cannot recover. I hope he fronts all the communities he was happy to front up to last year when he offered to do everything he could to help them – I know that there are people in Brooklands, Bexley and Dallington who would love to see him again and give him the chance to explain how he thinks he has done that. This will be the measure of a Prime Minister, who now has to deliver on the commitments he made back then. Tonight I am returning to Christchurch early to join my friend Nicola Stewart as she re-launches her unique business In Water. What makes this special is described by the address for Nicci’s business on her website, which up until now said: “We are located in the Guthrey Centre, Cashel St, City Mall, Christchurch”, which is where the store was operating on 22 February 2011. Re-establishing a business in this environment has been no easy achievement, which is why it will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate a positive success and another one of those important milestones along the road to recovery. Nicci’s new store In Water is located at 35A Riccarton Road (the opening is from 6pm-8pm).
RUTH DYSON:
I share the anger of people who believe that our Heritage buildings are being demolished without adequate thought being given to repairing and strengthening them, and, for me, this is made even worse by the fact that in the suburbs there are still a large number of buildings which are very badly damaged, dangerous and ugly. They have fences around them, often blocking off footpaths and carparking, which is bad for pedestrians and business, and which would offer no protection at all for people walking past if they collapsed. These buildings are a harsh visual reminder of the quakes – and I think they should come down!! We have had amazing things appearing on sites of former buildings – like the Petanque Club in Lyttelton and the gap fillers in the city. These things lift people’s spirits as well as being much more attractive to look at. They are a sign of a City moving forward. Some pressure must be put on these building owners to move on their demolition and site clearing - now! There is a new combined group of Residents Associations, east of the Ferrymead bridge, called the “Coastal Communities Group” looking at the Estuary edge and the establishment of a Memorial Coastal Path. This is a fantastic idea with huge potential for walking and cycling from Sumner to Ferrymead – and perhaps beyond eventually.
ENDS
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