News

2013 is destined to be a year of action for greater Christchurch. We’ve largely done the planning and now we are implementing those plans. Among the significant progress made are many kilometres of road now repaired and rebuilt, stormwater pipes fixed, building consents issued, concrete poured etc. While delays are frustrating when you have to alter your route to work or school because of roadworks, every piece that’s fixed gets us closer to recovery.

So Canterbury Anniversary Day has passed and we’re on the rapid sleigh ride to Christmas now! CERA’s major announcement in the past week was the launch of our draft Accessible City Chapter of the Central City Recovery Plan – focused on how people travel into and around the city, and how the streets will look as the central city redevelops.

The recent land decisions on the Port Hills have been followed up with community meetings in various locations, and last week we saw over 600 people at afternoon and evening events.

Since Minister Brownlee announced the zoning review process just over a week ago, CERA has been sent a huge number of requests to have zones checked.

Winter has certainly arrived as predicted, and as pretty as it is, the snow managed to cause its fair share of issues around Canterbury last week. And the forecast ahead is for more winter - not that we should be surprised about that!

The next six months will see increasing progress on repairs and rebuilds in the residential green zone, and an increasing focus on TC3 properties.

Last Friday’s announcement of the one-off three month extension is good news for those who are not yet in a position to make a decision on what Residential Red Zone offer to take.

Often the best ideas and policies are also the least-publicised. If things are ticking along well without drama or complaint, they generally fall under the media radar.

Last year I suggested recovery would rely on play as much as work and while we needed new recreational and cultural facilities, the passion to run these had survived and thrived.

After a major disaster, it is difficult to imagine anything as despicable, quite frankly, as vulnerable victims being preyed on by fraudsters who take money in the guise of being good Samaritans offering help.

It is my pleasure to be able to fill in as CERA’s Acting Chief Executive for Roger Sutton who is on a well earned break with his family. Christmas was a little more stressful for many Cantabrians with the events of December 23rd. The aftershocks caused minor damage and more liquefaction. Most of the damage in the CBD was to unreinforced brick and masonry buildings including the Cathedral. However, the damage to buildings was incremental, not significant.