News archive

City gym's fate stuck on a treadmill

Les Mills was staying, then it was going, and now it looks like it might stay again.

Wave of vandalism strikes contractors

Arson attacks, stolen machinery, thefts and tagging - welcome to what Canterbury demolition companies face almost every week.

Demo contractor in ECan waste probe

Environment Canterbury is investigating a Christchurch contractor for allegedly burying demolition waste on 13 cleared residential sections.

Post-quake shake-up in participation

Children's sports teams have quadrupled in number in Christchurch's eastern suburbs since the earthquakes.

Buyer needed to save restoration bid

Christchurch's oldest stone church may yet face demolition after a restoration bid fell through due to lack of investor interest.

Access given to leaked EQC case files

The Earthquake Commission's data security troubles have taken a new twist with revelations private information relating to earthquake-damaged homes has been leaked to a former employee who is prepared to release details of individual cases.

Wave of vandalism strikes contractors

Arson attacks, stolen machinery, thefts and tagging - welcome to what Canterbury demolition companies face almost every week.

Demo contractor in ECan waste probe

Environment Canterbury is investigating a Christchurch contractor for allegedly burying demolition waste on 13 cleared residential sections.

Update

I took a day off for a much-needed respite and I returned to find my Hushmail inbox full.  Unfortunately, Hushmail provides very little storage, so many e-mails likely bounced.    If your e-mail bounced, please try to resend it.  However, please try to minimise the size of your documents to minimise the possibility that my [...]

Deadline for contributions to next St Albans News

The deadline for the next edition of St Albans News is April 21. Please send your news, stories and community notices to news@stalbans.gen.nz. This issue will cover the period from May 5 to June 30. The St Albans News (StAN) …

Community discussion: boundaries of St Albans

Location: Mairehau Library, 42 Kensington Ave, St Albans. Time: 7-8pm April 9 Description: The discussion this month focuses on the boundaries of St Albans. The historic suburb of St Albans had its boundaries defined in 1856 in the Black Maps. …

Day 773 - access road regraded

Today the job was digging out the hole for the foundations for a radio mast and regrading the existing access road.

The Digger that had been hired for the weekend did all the hard work (in the hands of Mike - a novice first time digger driver so it went slowly).

Blair who is setting up the radio system asked for a 1m x 1m x 1m block of concrete to set the mast in. This will be boxed up and poured next Saturday with a 6m length of galvanised pipe set in it vertically.

Earlier ...

Expect delays Cambridge Terrace by Hereford Street

Turvey Trustee v Southern Response Earthquake Services Limited

Claimant abandons case over rebuild payout

A Court of Appeal challenge for a test case of how Southern Response determines rebuild payouts has been abandoned by the claimant.

New Update on Retrieving Information

Reblogged from EQC Truths: s expected, I have received a flood of requests from people, all of which I have managed to answer.  Unfortunately, some claims are not on the spreadsheet.  This is either because the claim has not progressed …

New Update on Retrieving Information

Getting access to the big EQC spread sheet

Remember the spread sheet that was accidently e-mailed out from EQC? Another copy was apparently leaked by an EQC staffer and sent to the blogger known as EQCTruths. Courtesy of EQCTruths and his/her legal advisers you can now obtain access to your entry on the spread sheet. Read all about it here. Thank you to the EQC employee who made this available. A brave and decent thing to do.

Christchurch Gondola Reopens after Earthquake

Dallington Red Zone High Court decision

The interim decision in the recent court case against Tower involving issues about repair v rebuild, and the red zoning of the area, has been released on-line. 

Council welcomes Earthquake Appeal Trust announcement

Christchurch City Council is warmly welcoming the Earthquake Appeal Trust's generous funding of $6.5 million for water attractions at the Council's planned recreation and sports centre in the eastern suburbs.

Daylight Savings end means tsunami warning testing

Christchurch's tsunami warning siren system will be tested at 11am this Sunday 7 April 2013, with the sirens sounding for one to two minutes.

Day 772 - the diggers

We got heaps done today on the Garlands Rd site. 6 bods turned up to work from 9am till 1pm.
Tim and Nick registered via the Student Volunteer Army website

The jobs done were
A rotating laser level on a tripod was used to work out the pipe invert levels. The council pipe at the boundary appears to be gone or it may just have been cut off nearer the road.

The sewer trench is 400mm wide so that plate compactor can be used on the gravel and top soil so the land is geologically ...

Lyttelton community welcomes re-opening of information centre

Rebuild Creates Multi Cultural Cycling Team For Fundraiser

cathedralconversations.co.nz

CanCERN Newsletter #78 - 5th April 2013

AvON co-chairs urge minister to reconsider residential red zone policy

Avon-Otakaro Network (AvON) is extremely disappointed at the policy forbidding interim use of residential red zone lands, and urges Minister Gerry Brownlee to reconsider.

Final total for flat land acceptances

EQC breach reveals inconsistancy

A woman says EQC's privacy breach revealed she's been paid only 10 percent of what she should have been for the damage to her Linwood house.

EQC breach reveals inconsistency

A woman says EQC's privacy breach revealed she's been paid only 10 percent of what she should have been for the damage to her Linwood house.

CCC Consultations – Have Your Say on the Coastal Pathway and the Christchurch City 3-Year plan

The Christchurch City Three Year Plan sets out what the council will do over the next three years, how much this will cost and where the money will come from.  

How to Get Your Information

How to Get Your Information   After consulting with my lawyers and Bryan Staples from Earthquake Services, I have created the following process for obtaining your information while protecting the privacy of all property owners.  

Repairs about to start at Christchurch Art Gallery

Repairs are about to start at Christchurch Art Gallery.The Christchurch City Council is ready to call tenders from specialist contractors, the first for repairing the building foundations.Though the building performed well during...

Day 772 - Brownlee bars charity from red-zone site

The Press

By Michael Wright

A charity recycling project set for Christchurch's residential red-zone is in limbo after the Government first demanded $20,000 in rent for the use of a condemned property, then decided the group could not use the land at all.

The started the last year, to put to good use items contractors and salvagers were removing from red-zoned properties.

CanCERN needed a storage base to keep salvaged items and jumped at the offer of a dou ...

Transport nightmare at port

Christchurch's rebuild and the region's commodity export growth are a boon for Lyttelton port but the higher volumes are leading to what some describe as a transport nightmare portside.

Quirky roofs may rise again

Paul King wanted to resurrect the roof and ceiling from Nazareth House Chapel into an earthquake memorial.

Funding stoush looms over anchor projects

High-level negotiations are under way between the city council and the Government over who will pay for and who will own the anchor projects planned for Christchurch's new central business district.

Insurance Council welcomes ruling

A court ruling that a Christchurch couple should be paid for the full replacement value of their red zoned home brings much needed clarity for insurers and property owners, the Insurance Council says.

Councillors eye options for vacant lot

The Christchurch City Council may seek development proposals for prime central-city land it owns in Welles St.

Cakes & Confectionery on High Street

Sandwiched between the White Hart Hotel and the Universal Boot Depot at 223 and 225 High Street, was the business founded by Mr James Freeman, pastry cook and caterer. After shopping at Messrs Strange and Co.’s establishment, the Christchurch shopper in 1906 could use the passage-way leading from there into the premises of James Freeman Ltd, where they could obtain ‘First-class Refreshments and Confectionery’. From 12 o’clock till 2 p.m, three courses served with tea or c ...

Critics slate 'bizarre' new cathedral

Prominent British and Australian architecture critics have ridiculed plans for a modern Christ Church Cathedral, labelling one of the options "vulgar" and "bizarre".

Critics slate 'bizarre' new cathedral

Prominent British and Australian architecture critics have ridiculed plans for a modern Christ Church Cathedral, labelling one of the options "vulgar" and "bizarre".

Awards for health volunteers

Trauma release technique April 6

Update on Leak and How to Fight EQC

Please explain, couple tell EQC

A Christchurch couple want an explanation as to why they were paid only $8000 from EQC when the embattled organisation's own estimates of the damage to the home were over $80,000, according to the infamous leaked email.

Rental costs in St Albans up 39 per cent in 30 months

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has issued a report on housing in Christchurch and found that shortage of accommodation consequent to the earthquakes is pushing up rental prices beyond those faced in Auckland. The highest increases have been …

Final total for flat land acceptances

All of the acceptances of the Crown’s Red Zone offer have now been received and checked, and a final number of expiries can now be confirmed.

Central Christchurch cordon reduced

The cordon in Christchurch's central city will shrink some more on Friday evening.

Colombo St partially reopened

Christchurch's central city cordons will be reduced this evening.

Colombo St partly reopened

Central Christchurch's cordons will be reduced tonight.

Tower must replace red-zoned house

A Christchurch couple appears to have won the battle to have their insurer rebuild their house, but lost the the war to give all red-zoners a similar deal.

Further cordon reduction today

Chch couple win in interim decision

The Chch couple who took their insurance company to court over the rebuild of their quake-damaged, red-zoned home have come out on top in an interim decision.

Step forward for art gallery repairs

The tender process for repairing the Christchurch Art Gallery will start soon, but the iconic building will not be open for at least two years.

Check State Highway road conditions with “OnTheMove”

Labour backs full cathedral rebuild

Labour is backing the full restoration of Christchurch Cathedral.

CANTERBURY IS GOING DIGITAL ON 28 APRIL 2013 – Only a few days to go!!

Angry EQC Employee Leaks Database to EQC Truths!!!