Media Release from Hon Maurice Williamson

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson is urging people to have their say on a joint discussion document seeking views on limited variations to the Retirement Villages Code of Practice.

The document, Potential variations to the Retirement Villages Code of Practice 2008, was released today by the Department of Building and Housing and the Retirement Commission.

Consultation will be open from Monday, 10 October until Monday, 21 November.

“I am pleased to be able to work with the Retirement Commissioner on these important issues,” Mr Williamson said.

“I encourage all retirement village residents, their families and retirement village operators to have their say.”

Part one of the consultation, from the Retirement Commissioner, asks for views on the three sets of proposed variations from:

●The Association of Residents of Retirement Villages (Auckland Region)
●The Retirement Villages Association
●The Department of Building and Housing

Part two is a discussion document from the Department of Building and Housing, which asks for views on the issues discussed and the wording proposed by the Department.

The documents can be found at www.retirement.org.nz and www.dbh.govt.nz.

Media Release from Hon Gerry Brownlee

The Government has moved to open up more land for residential development in Kaiapoi following the announcements in June and August that around 1000 properties in the Waimakariri District had been zoned red because of severe earthquake damage.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee is using his powers under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act to address the impact of noise contours around Christchurch International Airport that could prevent new residential development in parts of Kaiapoi.

“The existing noise contours would have negatively impacted residents in the residential red zone who need to move off their land but who want to stay in the area,” Mr Brownlee said.

“By changing the current Regional Policy Statement up to another 300 residential sections could be opened up for development in south-west Kaiapoi and as many as three times that number in the north-east.

“This is good news for people looking at options to stay or live in the local community.

“Overall it’s a positive outcome because it provides for the safe and efficient operation of the airport with a 50 decibels air noise contour, but provides an exemption within that zone for residential development in Kaiapoi.”

Mr Brownlee said the change to the Regional Policy Statement takes effect from Saturday (8 October 2011) when the public notice will be published.

“A number of parties have been involved in discussions on this issue, including Christchurch International Airport, Environment Canterbury and the Waimakariri District Council, and I want to thank them for their constructive contributions.

“It isn’t always easy when there are conflicting demands, but I know everyone appreciates the need to get good outcomes for residents who have been so badly affected by the earthquakes.

“We’ve made this one-off exemption to the noise contour because of the extenuating circumstances in Kaiapoi, which suffered severe damage in the earthquakes. It’s unlikely any further exemption under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act will be on the cards.

“Today’s announcement is part of the wider work underway to address housing supply matters in Kaiapoi and across the greater Christchurch area and further announcements are expected over the next few weeks,” Mr Brownlee said.

Media Release from Hon Anne Tolley

Education Minister Anne Tolley has announced $1 million of funding for new scholarship awards for Year 13 Christchurch students whose plans for tertiary study may have been affected by the recent earthquakes.

The Canterbury Earthquake Scholarships will provide $2,000 each year for three years of study for 160 students.

“This additional financial support will help students take on tertiary study after what has been a traumatic time,” says Mrs Tolley.

“Students showed great resilience following the February earthquake, with many having to share school sites and go to school in shifts, and these scholarships will ease the burden for some whose families have been affected financially.

“The application process was developed along with schools and communities. Schools will be working with students to complete their applications, while the students can nominate community members to speak in favour of their application.

“I have also told NZQA to ensure that the number of scholarships for high-achieving students is maintained at the same level as previous years.”

The new scholarships will be available to students who are enrolled and studying at Year 13 at any Canterbury secondary school, including state, private and integrated schools in Christchurch, Waimakariri and Selwyn. Successful students can then enrol for 2012 in a course of tertiary study for one year or longer.

The Ministry is contacting schools with further information on how students can apply for the scholarships.

Media Release by Hon Anne Tolley

Education Minister Anne Tolley has announced that communities and the education sector in Canterbury are to have the opportunity to take part in consultation on the future of education in the area following the recent earthquakes.

The feedback received will contribute to a draft Education Renewal Plan for greater Christchurch.

“Our challenge is to develop a bold and creative plan for the future of the education network,” says Mrs Tolley.

“It must meet the needs of students and families, and be responsive to the changing environment, to ensure that the delivery of education in the decades ahead is the best it can possibly be.”

The Ministry of Education will be inviting representatives from the education sector, community members and business leaders to a series of meetings to provide the chance to discuss options and give feedback.

The wider community, including students, parents, teachers and employers, is also being encouraged to take part and provide valuable feedback at http://shapingeducation.minedu.govt.nz
The consultation will run until 13 November, following which the Ministry will analyse submissions before reporting back to Cabinet.

This will then contribute to a draft Education Renewal Plan which is scheduled to be released for widespread community consultation in the new year.

The Ministry of Education is working with the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) on rebuilding greater Christchurch and its surrounds, and supporting the welfare of its residents. For more information visit www.cera.govt.nz

Click onto this link for details of the upcoming workshops http://cera.govt.nz/event/sep-2011/workshops-for-christchurch-red-zone-residents .  To register please ring 0800 7464 2372.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/5701240/Nationals-cup-runneth-not-over

Check out the above link to today’s article highlighting a New Fairfax Media-Research International poll which said:

“…the Government seems to have solid support for its earthquake recovery effort.

Of 1000 respondents nationwide, 67.6 per cent said it was good and 12.7 per cent poor. In Canterbury, out of 130 people polled, 65.6 per cent said it was good and 15.2 per cent poor.”

This is in line with my recent survey results which showed 70 per cent of people who responded to my survey thought the Government had done a good or excellent job responding to the earthquake.  Click here to see my press release showing my survey results.

Click onto the link below to see photos from last weekend’s Young Enterprise Scheme’s trade fair at the Palm’s shopping centre where I was one of the judges.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yescanterbury/

Final alliance agreement signed in Christchurch

It’s great news that a final agreement has been signed between the alliance of parties that will manage the $2 billion rebuild of Christchurch’s infrastructure. The alliance will be responsible for repairing infrastructure such as roads, water, wastewater and stormwater.

This follows an interim agreement which was signed in May. The parties involved are CERA, the New Zealand Transport Agency, Christchurch City Council, Fulton Hogan, Fletcher Construction, McConnell Dowell, Downer Construction, and City Care.

This alliance means that different organisations can work together to meet their targets. It provides a faster, more efficient and flexible way of completing the huge job ahead.

The alliance partners will draw on each other’s expertise as they work toward their common goal. This is a great example of the co-operation and collaboration that will be so vital as we move forward and rebuild our amazing city.

More information: http://www.national.org.nz/Article.aspx?articleId=37129

Progress on Red Zone settlements

Progress on the Government’s offer to purchase properties in the residential red zone in Canterbury is tracking well. Thousands of offers have been sent to homeowners and the response overall has been positive.

According to Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) figures, 880 residential red zone homeowners have already accepted either of the Government’s offers to purchase their property. Of those, 85 have requested settlement as soon as possible and 65 requests have been approved already. So far 10 cheques have been issued and another 34 will be sent in the next week.

The Government believes the offers at 2007 rateable value are fair. There is no doubt this is a big decision for individual property owners and all those affected are urged to seek appropriate advice and support to assist in making these decisions.

More certainty for universities and polytechs

Canterbury’s tertiary institutions now have greater financial certainty as they work to recover from the effects of the earthquakes.

The Government has confirmed that funding commitments made prior to the September 2010 earthquake will be met, despite an expected drop in enrolments. Funding levels are normally linked to forecast enrolments, but it is important to continue supporting Canterbury’s universities and polytechs because of the important role they will play in the earthquake recovery effort.

While enrolments are expected to be lower than usual, we want to give tertiary providers as much support as possible so they can grow again in the future.

More information: http://www.national.org.nz/Article.aspx?articleId=37119

Supporting schools through enrolment changes

We have also supported primary schools by keeping teacher numbers and funding at pre-February levels until the end of the year. From next year, we will make some changes to ensure we have the right number of teachers in the right places.

Around 3500 Christchurch students are still enrolled in schools outside the city, and 1500 students have moved to different schools within Christchurch. From 2012, funding for teachers will reflect this change, meaning that staffing entitlements will increase for some schools and decrease for others.

We will be supporting schools through this process and the Ministry of Education will work with unions and the New Zealand School Trustees Association to provide advice.

The Government will soon be announcing widespread consultation with communities and the education sector as we plan for the decades ahead. We want to make sure Christchurch students get the best possible education.

More information: http://www.national.org.nz/Article.aspx?articleId=37081

Westpac Business Hub now officially open

The Westpac Business and Community Hub has been officially opened. The Hub will provide vital assistance to help Christchurch businesses get back on their feet, with office space, a conference centre, boardrooms, telephones, video conferencing, photocopying and a café.

While the official opening was last week, the Hub’s facilities have already helped thousands of small and medium sized businesses. This has been a much-needed facility to provide essential services to businesses that have been badly affected by the earthquakes.

This initiative has enabled many to continue with day to day business which would have been impossible otherwise. It is great to have facilities like this backing Christchurch as the economy recovers. 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/5670890/No-quick-resolution-for-contents-claims

Check out the above link for a recent press article.

Many people have approach me regarding when and where and how they will have to rebuild in the North and East of Christchurch. Further to my earlier article about issues around this and recent meetings with local developers I thought it was time to write a bit more on where I see this happening. For many people both within the red zone and those who will have to rebuild on sites there is plenty to think about. Some will choose to buy an already built home in the market rather than build but for those wanting to build on a new site there are some unique things to consider. Firstly where, as previously stated it is the belief of Government that 10-15,000 sections will be available within the foreseeable future to build upon. There is no shortage of land in Canterbury, as unlike Auckland or Wellington we are not geographically as constrained, but we do need to see more land openly zoned for development. Currently land either side of zoning restrictions is priced very differently. Broadly there are the following known pipeline of developments:

• Highfield  2,200 sites
• Preston’s 2,500 sites
• Wigram 1,500 sites
• Lincoln 1,000 sites
• Rolleston 2,000 sites
• Kaiapoi/Pegasus/Woodend 2,000 sites
• Belfast 1,500 sites
• Halswell 1,800 sites

Plus numerous other smaller developments typically with a few hundred each as well as a number of retirement villages like at Alpine View, Russelly and Mairehau, which of course themselves have their own unique issues and require a number of new rules governing them.

These developments are in various states of market readiness, ranging from on market ready to build now like Wigram, through to plans have just been submitted to Council for consent approval like Highfield. The timetable from idea to home owners in place is historically 3-4 years. With the powers of CERA and the will of the Councils involved getting this timeframe halved needs to be considered to align with those from the red zone timelines. In relation to costs of these developments they will I am informed by most of the developers involved cover the whole spectrum. Gone are the days when subdivisions where only for rich people or affordable homes only. Most developers provide a range of choices for people, as examples in the north east of Christchurch I am aware that both Preston’s and Highfield will cater for slightly different markets and have different costs to develop them but both will have expensive premium sites with house and build packages of $600k+ and also smaller cheaper sites targeting the $300k end of the market.  Both developers are keen to talk to potential purchasers and I’m considering running some form of local expo on this in the future with them and others too.

I want to see these developments also work more with our wonderful natural environment we have on our side of town. We need to embrace that we have wetlands, forests, beaches and rivers and not try and modify nature to fit with us. I am pleased that the developers I have spoken with agree with this too. It would be disaster to destroy some of our existing green spaces like Rawhiti and Bottle Lake that some have suggested for short term gain.

One major impediment to rebuilding is also to what code to build to. Given the quakes the requirements for stronger new buildings will occur this will mean buildings will be built differently and also likely to cost more to construct too. The Department of Building and Housing is working on this but the most likely long term outcome is that Canterbury will have the same seismic requirements as Wellington currently has. This would on average add maybe I am told 5% to the cost of building but have longer lasting stronger homes. The same exists for commercial buildings.

Another related issue is getting insurance to build at all. Many insurers are still holding off even in Green zoned areas to approve rebuilds. That being said every day I hear also of those that have reached agreement with an insurer and have commenced rebuilding. It may a case of shopping around. An aspect that is vitally important as part of this is the issue of builders insurance. Many people are not aware that builders insurance does not cover earthquake damage to the land because standard builders insurance does not pay an EQC premium. I would like to see this change in the future and given the amount of rebuilding in the north east of Christchurch is likely to total over 10,000 homes alone if we are lucky to be re-elected this may require some changes to EQC and other legislation.

For people making decisions about where to live community infrastructure both recreational, educational and shopping are important to people. In the proposed new developments these will be catered for. In relation to schools there will be as Minister Tolley has pointed out at some stage a major piece of consultation coming out to the community over what the provision of schools in the local network looks like given a number of high schools are badly broken and the loss of much of some schools catchment areas. It is too early to say what that means but I personally would like to see the options include the moving long term of schools into the new communities as they are built and greater use of joint community infrastructure. Equally for recreation spaces I want to see a decision made quickly about the rebuilding of QEII pools, gym and indoor court space asap, but I accept that the days of a large outdoor stadium at QEII are probably gone. Other local sport facilities like Cowles Stadium are also not in good condition as of course is AMI. These all need to be thought through as part of the rebuild.  Government and Councils will need to actively work with each other on all these things to get sustainable communities.

Finally there is the on-going issue of insurance provision generally it is clear that New Zealand being perhaps the most insured country in the world has been a blessing, but the likelihood of insurance continuing to be cheap as it has been is gone due to both local issues but also the Japanese and Queensland disasters too. Even if hypothetically insurance doubled in price, and that is unlikely, the average house would still cost only a few dollars a week to insure, and there will be plenty of insurers who will, over time, are happy to take your money to cover your risks.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/your-property/5656558/Looking-for-a-section

The Chch Press has developed a really neat interactive map showing the sections that are expected to be made available.