The Christchurch City Council says it has reached a compromise with the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, and voted unanimously to support a plan to intensify housing in the city.
Two years on from the Christchurch earthquakes, a local author says the insurance industry has failed in its response to the disaster.
Despite Government pressure on the Christchurch City Council to sell off some of its assets to help fund its 40% share of the city's earthquake repairs, the council has instead decided to raise rates, and rents.
The Canterbury earthquakes succeeded in all but destroying modern-day Christchurch, but from the rubble has emerged a surprising bonus - an insight into the city's history.
A Christchurch catering company has joined forces with the City Mission to tackle what is being described as a new era of poverty after the Canterbury earthquakes.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says officials have tried for months to help the Christchurch City Council but it's consistently failed to make the necessary improvements and is still taking far too long to process applications.
Christchurch city councillors wants to know what the Earthquake Recovery Authority's plan is to hand back power to the council.
The Christchurch City Council and the Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, have hammered out a compromise deal over setting the council's long term spending priorities.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister says this is a final warning for the Christchurch City Council.
Since the Christchurch earthquakes propelled Paul Fleming from his Chancery Lane shop in central Christchurch, he has begun a business called 'Happy Tours' featuring an immaculate Austin Seven called Myrtle. Myrtle takes Spectrum's Deborah Nation into Christchurch's central city Red Zone. Christchurch poet Helen Jacobs also tours in Myrtle.
The Christchurch City councillor in charge of council housing says he accepts trenchant criticism from the Earthquake Recovery Minister that the council has been woeful in fixing its quake-damaged housing stock.
The Christchurch City Council has received a strong warning from the Earthquake Recovery Minister to speed up its processing of building consents or lose its power to authorise consents.
The newly elected Christchurch City Council had its first meeting with the Earthquake Recovery Minister last night, and councillors say it was the beginning of a much better working relationship.
Christchurch residents are pouring cold water on the Earthquake Recovery Minister's efforts to celebrate post-quake recovery in the city.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, has defended the government's handling of the Christchurch City Council's consenting crisis in Parliament this afternoon.
A professor studying the economics of disasters says Christchurch will struggle to ever fully recover from the earthquakes that have devastated the city.
The Earthquake Minister Gerry Brownlee says it would be an absolute disaster for Christchurch, if the City Council stopped issuing building consents next week.
Some Christchurch community groups say a programme to rebuild the city's wastewater and storm water systems to a pre-earthquake equivalent isn't good enough.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister is giving the Christchurch City Council until this morning to approve a major land development plan otherwise he'll force it through himself.
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 says the Christchurch City Council has wasted an opportunity in deciding to save the Town Hall, instead of building a new performing arts precinct.
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.
Christchurch City Council staff have been given the hurry up from councillors over the length of time it is taking to repair or replace earthquake-damaged council housing.
Christchurch is home to many diverse ethnic groups whose voices have sometimes gone unheard in the aftermath of the earthquakes and the city's rebuild plans. Katy Gosset visits a gathering in Christchurch's battered eastern suburbs to hear their thoughts on post-quake life and the future of their adopted home.
Katy Gosset meets one of Christchurch's top tailors. Mark van Roosmalen may have lost his premises in the earthquake but he's busier than ever, turning out bespoke garments for the city's style-conscious. Katy finds that amidst the high-viz vests of Christchurch there's still plenty of room for a sharp suit.
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.
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.
Nearly two years' after Christchurch's February earthquake and almost 6 months after the blueprint for the city centre was revealed, many questions remain about how much it will cost and who will pay for it.
It's been revealed earthquake damage was only one factor considered by the Ministry of Education when it decided to close schools in Christchurch and that it was just as much to do with reducing the overall number of schools in the city.
Maddie Leach and Jem Noble, collaborators on I was using six watts when you Received me... The broadcast of sounds that are special to the city but were lost after the earthquakes are part of the SCAPE Public Art Biennial which starts in Christchurch this Friday.