Businesses in the Christchurch suburb of New Brighton say something needs to be done urgently to pull the area out of an economic slump. The seaside town has struggled since the Canterbury Earthquakes, with thousands of people - and customers - leaving the area due to land damage under their homes. And they're pointing the fingers at city leaders like the Christchurch City Council and its rebuild agency, Development Christchurch. Logan Church spoke to New Brighton business owner Nigel Gilmore.
Two years after the Christchurch earthquakes, the city council has only finished detailed assessments of about half its community facilities, and nasty surprises are still cropping up.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister has given the Christchurch City Council until this morning to approve a development plan, or else he says he'll do it for them.
The Christchurch Mayor says the city council will meet with GNS scientists to get some answers about the current sequence of earthquakes, which have sparked anxiety among residents.
The man who lead the US search and rescue in the aftermath of February's earthquake is back in Christchurch to accept a plaque of appreciation from the City Council.
Building plans signed off by the Christchurch City Council show one of its own structural engineers was involved in the design of a new multistorey building that is unstable. The eight-storey office building at 230 High Street is off-limits as it is too weak and might 'rupture' in an earthquake. But the council insists the planning documents are wrong and its engineer had only a minor role. Phil Pennington reports.
Many Christchurch residents have used shipping containers and other temporary structures to store belongings in while repairs were carried out after the earthquakes. But the Christchurch City Council says it's had an increase in complaints from residents about containers and other temporary structures obscuring neighbours' views or obstructing council berms. Chairman of the council's regulation and consents committee David East says if earthquake repairs are completed, the container may have to go.
A Christchurch businessman has told the Earthquake Royal Commission the city council was a nightmare to deal with when he was trying to strengthen his building before the September quake.
Business owners have told the Christchurch City Council they are haemorrhaging thousands of dollars a week, while it decides whether or not to demolish their buildings following last month's earthquake.
Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has backed off on his threats to the Christchurch City Council and one of the New Zealand Greenpeace activists is freed from a Russian detention centre.
The Labour Christchurch East MP Lianne Dalziel says the city council has made a terrible decision about how it organises help for earthquake victims and it needs to be changed urgently.
A Christchurch city council manager has told the Royal Commission there was an element of chaos after the first earthquake in September 2010 as staff sought to get systems in place.
The Christchurch city council is reconsidering its plan to dump five thousand tonnes of asbestos contaminated rubble in Bottle Lake Forest Park landfill which has been reopened to take earthquake debris.
The rebuild of central Christchurch has been taken out of the control of the city council and will now be managed by a newly formed unit within the Government's Earthquake Recovery Authority.
The family of a man killed while trying to reach his family after the February earthquake in Canterbury wants the Christchurch City Council to ensure people in Lyttelton are not cut off again.
Council rates in Christchurch city will continue to be calculated using the 2007 house valuations for up to two more years, allowing time for the earthquake's impact on property prices to be assessed.
Bob Parker, Christchurch mayor and Peter Townsend, chief executive of the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce. The Christchurch City Council has unveiled its $2 billion vision for the rebuild of earthquake-hit central Christchurch.
In Christchurch power is back on for all but a small number of customers after Monday's earthquakes, but the city council is warning it could be six months before water supplies return to normal.
About two hundred of those who lost loved ones in collapsed buildings in Christchurch's 2011 earthquake, heard an apology from the city's mayor, Lianne Dalziel yesterday. A royal commission in to faulty buildings found serious errors by engineers and the Christchurch City Council 185 people died during the earthquake on the 22nd of February, 2011. David Selway who lost his sister Susan Selway in the CTV Building, said it was good to hear a heartfelt apology from the mayor for the role her council played in signing off the building as safe.
Some of Christchurch's earthquake damaged red-zone land is another step closer to having some long term decisions made about its future. Today the Minister of Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Megan Woods, formally handed over ownership of 70 hectares of land to the Christchurch City Council. The land gifted to the council is in the coastal suburbs of Southshore, South Brighton and Brooklands, where residents have been waiting almost a decade to find out what the future holds for their area. Rachel Graham reports
Some Christchurch residents say the Christchurch City Council has been too slow to resolve the threat of rock fall to their homes, and they now hope the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority will take over the job.
Some owners of commercial buildings badly damaged in the Canterbury earthquake, have been told if they don't repair or demolish them by January the 31st, the Christchurch City Council will do it for them.
Years after the earthquakes, Christchurch is still desperately short of theatre space. But now the city council's investment of 30-million dollars to help the Court Theatre replace its very successful temporary home in Addington, is being widely applauded.
Topics - Hundreds of people have lost their lives in Egypt overnight, and it's expected the death toll will continue to rise. This comes after the military over threw the democratically elected leader last month, and has now forcibly closed down protester camps. Power company Orion - owned by Christchurch City Council and Selwyn District Council - is looking to hike its prices until 2019, to help recover revenue lost because of the Canterbury earthquakes.
A Christchurch woman whose mother died in the 2011 earthquake says an apology from the Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel does not lessen her grief. Yesterday - nine years and one day since the quake killed 185 people - Dalziel invited their families for a private apology. She acknowledged errors made by engineers and the city council in regards to the CTV building. Julie Hibbs lost her mother in the collapse of the building. She speaks to Susie Ferguson.
Christchurch has its own social superhero and he's gone cap in hand to the council for funding. The self-styled lycra-clad superhero, known only at 'Flat Man', has been dropping care packages to people since the 2011 Canterbury earthquake. He also wants to be able to help schoolkids and anxious and stressed residents through their troubles. And to do this, he's now asking the Christchurch City Council for funding. He joins us now, and says "a cape is a must".
Plumbers say EQC paying bills too slowly, Earthquake Commission defends its claim process, Events centre, not stimulus package, for West Coast, Harawira calls meeting to consider forming new party, Government, Auckland council split over development, Search work in Christchurch central city nears completion, Power in South Christchurch threatened by cut cable.
If you've used your eftpos card, caught a bus or taxi, taken a photo on your smartphone or mapped a run or walk then you've probably used GPS - the global positioning system developed by the US military. Christchurch city council is using location technology to keep tabs on the city's rubbish bins. With nearly half a million wheelie bins in circulation, it's hoping to track down 16.000 wheelie bins that are missing following the February 2011 earthquake.
Topics - The Mayor of Christchurch says he's confident the city council will speed up the processing of building consents and won't lose its authority to grant them. Are Christchurch's frustrations with the Earthquake Commission a result of some kind of misunderstanding. Media hype's being blamed for skyrocketing house prices in parts of Auckland.
A woman badly injured in the Christchurch earthquake is astonished a new building in the city has been found to have serious seismic flaws. The empty new office building at 230 High Street has multiple problems in its earthquake design that the city council was warned about almost two years ago. Construction of the seven-storey building continued even after those warnings in December 2017. Susie Ferguson speaks to University of Canterbury lecturer Ann Brower, who was crushed after falling masonry fell on her bus during the February twenty-second 2011 earthquake.
