The Star: April 13, 2017

The Star 17
Viewpoint
IN THE wake of the Canterbury
earthquakes, Greater
Christchurch was in dire need of
new homes.
THe Government red-zoned
more than 7000 properties on
severely-damaged land to allow
people to move on with their
lives.
THese land decisions and the
widespread earthquake damage
to hundreds of thousands of
homes left the country’s secondbiggest
city with a housing
vacuum.
Fast tracking the overhaul
of Christchurch’s District Plan
enabled the city’s regeneration to
get off the ground more quickly
and efficiently.
Now, Greater Christchurch
has double the amount of space
it needs for new housing for
the next decade and more than
130,000 building consents have
been issued over the past five
years.
Selwyn and Waimakariri
districts have experienced
enormous growth since the
quakes and opening up new
land to development – both for
commercial and residential use –
has seen a construction boom in
the region.
I believe central and local
Government have been
HANDS UP if anyone in
Christchurch who watched the
Erin Brockovich movie back in
2000 ever imagined that this
champion of the underdog
would be in our city telling us to
keep up the fight?
Seventeen years ago, the silver
screen story of a legal executive
who took on the corporate
might of Pacific Gas and Electric
Company on behalf of the people
of Hinkley, California, seemed
about as far removed from our
reality as a movie about a trip to
the moon.
This week it all changed
with Brockovich’s visit to
innovative and progressive
in their thinking since the
devastating quakes.
Last year, the Riccarton
Racecourse Development
Enabling Act 2016 was passed
to allow the development of
Riccarton Racecourse land to go
ahead.
THis legislation is to
Erin Brockovich: Warm, funny and genuinely concerned
Christchurch. She spent time
visiting the houses of people
still dealing with insurance
companies and EQC to settle
their claims, repair their homes
and move on with their lives.
Her verdict on the situation was
that the conditions they’re living
in broke her heart.
I had the pleasure of meeting
Latest Christchurch news at www.
Dire need for new homes
Gerry Brownlee
.kiwi
facilitate the timely residential
development of surplus land held
by the Christchurch Racecourse
Reserve Trust.
THe Riccarton Racecourse
Development Scheme will
supply affordable housing to
Christchurch with requirements
that a minimum of 180 homes
need to sell for less than the
KiwiSaver HomeStart cap for
Christchurch, which is currently
$550,000.
THe affordability clause is
integral in providing people
on lower incomes or first-time
buyers with the opportunity to
buy their own home.
THe amount of available
land in Christchurch is a huge
advantage. It means we can focus
on getting people into homes
while making the region a place
where people come to work and
play.
•Gerry Brownlee is
Minister supporting Greater
Christchurch Regeneration
her on Monday night. She
was warm and funny, and her
genuine concern for the plight
of people struggling to get their
homes fixed and move on with
their lives was obvious.
Sometimes it’s easy to fall into
the well-funded Government
and industry spin about how
many houses needed repairing
Readers respond to a
legislation change that
would allow the city
council to decide whether
electric vehicles could
drive in special lanes such
as bus lanes
Ben Sandle – Stupid, just
because it is electric with one
person shouldn’t mean can use
bus lane. Should make better
public transportation.
Tanya Hyde – Terrible idea.
Just make it cheaper to own
and run electric cars and easier
to charge them. Besides most
towns in New Zealand don’t
have the infrastructure to support
special lanes.
Brian J. Dooley – It risks
creating elites. Not many people
can afford an electric car. This
could have more profound
negative issues than might be
anticipated.
Dave Moore – Yes, a special
and how people need to be
patient. Brockovich’s message,
however, was less complicated.
She saw money as the main
reason the process has being
dragged out for so long. People
still living in broken homes
needed answers yesterday, she
said.
I could not agree more. The
fact that we have thousands
of people who are yet to
have their homes properly
repaired is not acceptable.
Even more unacceptable is the
Government’s unwillingness
to give any kind of timeframe
to people about when they will
Thursday April 13 2017
lane for less than one per cent
of the driving population, a bus
lane, and a cycle lane. No lanes
for anything else. Genius.
Graeme Palmer – No. The
best thing the council can do
is provide plenty of charging
points around the city.
Dean Pover – Great idea,
now let’s pinch a whole lot of
golf carts and get ourselves a
convoy.
Rory Kinahan – Yes. Anything
to motivate people to buy
more of them.
Trevor Taylor – Hell no.
They pay nothing towards the
upkeep of our roads. They are
just freeloaders. Give them
nothing.
Jason Gemmill – Absolutely
not.
finally have resolution.
Just last week when
answering questions from me
in Parliament, Gerry Brownlee
backed out of an earlier
commitment from EQC to
have re-repairs sorted by June
this year. Instead, he refused to
commit to any deadline.
People still waiting for their
repairs have been let down by
the National Government which
has instead chosen to spend time
and resources telling people they
should be patient, rather than
fighting for them.
•Megan Woods is Labour’s
Canterbury spokeswoman