Still upset by expressway land deal

Authorities from Christchurch and Selwyn have extended the district’s state of emergency another week, as some evacuated Port Hills residents return to assess the fire damage to their homes.

Drones will be used to gather thermal and infrared hot spot information, and authorities have warned residents to expect smoke over the city over the next three days as firefighting activities continue.

The Port Hill fires, which started on February 13, ripped through 2075 hectares. About 450 houses were evacuated, nine homes destroyed and two partially damaged. A state of emergency was declared on February 15.

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel said yesterday that while the fire was contained, there was still a potentially serious situation in the Port Hills.

‘‘The fire is not out ... There is always the risk that further evacuations could be required.

The automatic seven-day extension was ‘‘highly likely’’ to be revised down on Friday. As the first section of the Kapiti expressway opens, a businessman is headed to court over land he says the Government bought for a steal as part of the $630 million project.

Murray Livingstone and his mother, Marian Livingstone, owned garden centre and nursery Livingstone Gardens, on the corner of Poplar Ave and State Highway 1 at Raumati, north of Wellington.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) took the eastern half of the 1.6-hectare site, fronting SH1, for expressway construction, under the Public Works Act.

Murray Livingstone said although he had accepted an offer for the land in 2015, it was less than one-third of his valuation. Now he and his mother have filed papers to take the transport agency to the Land Valuation Tribunal.

‘‘As far as I can see, they stole two acres off me’’, Livingstone said, although he wouldn’t reveal how much he was eventually paid.

The tribunal’s decision was the latest in an ongoing battle that saw him speak out in 2013 over the compulsory land purchase that would end his business.

At the time, he said he was offered $495,000 for half of the site, including the buildings. The garden centre was demolished in January 2014, before the sale amount was settled.

This week, highway manager Neil Walker said NZTA had followed the valuation process set under the Act.

But Livingstone said the agency had ‘‘refused to have any meaningful negotiations’’.

‘‘I feel they’ve built on land they technically haven’t paid for. The amount of value paid to us wouldn’t have covered a replacement build. I would’ve restarted the business but I wanted them to rebuild it and pay for the land they took.’’

He said he believed the agency had not provided an equivalent replacement accessway to his remaining land, and failed to follow up on a verbal promise to allow them to buy back residual land.

Walker said the final decision on what land, if any, would be surplus had not been made, and any decisions on its sale would be made by Land Information New Zealand, which administered the Act – not the agency.