Axe hangs over Regenerate

City councillors have declared war on rebuild agency Regenerate Christchurch, threatening to slash its budget by 75 per cent.

The Christchurch City Council and Crown jointly fund the organisation to the tune of $8 million a year for its planning work in helping rebuild Christchurch post-quakes.

However, councillors say the city has too many rebuild agencies and may axe more than $3m from its $4m contribution.

Regenerate’s plan for the residential red zone is close to completion and advice on the central city and Cathedral Square is finished. It will be wound down by June, 2021.

But while Regenerate axed 13 jobs last month, it also created new ones with a refocus on the commercial sector.

The move surprised city council leaders, who had charged their own agency Christchurch NZ with providing economic advice.

Last month Mayor Lianne Dalziel warned she would be meeting minister Megan Woods to ‘‘discuss [Regenerate’s] work programme’’.

She has previously made it clear she wants all the rebuild entities, including Regenerate, O¯ ta¯ karo and Christchurch NZ, brought into a single councilcontrolled urban development authority.

Last year Regenerate released a long-term vision for the red zone and spent $1m consulting on an $80m plan for revamping Cathedral Square.

There is no funding for the ‘‘aspirational’’ square proposal and it has been shelved.

During discussions yesterday about council priorities for the next year, councillor Vicki Buck proposed cutting about $3.1m from the council’s yearly contribution to Regenerate, a move she suggested would help reduce the planned rates increase.

She said: ‘‘Regenerate Christchurch had a clear goal that’s about planning and it was about its capacity to do various regenerate plans.

‘‘All they really need to have, in my view, is the staff to be able to ensure that that can happen, because most of the work actually in making those things happen comes to the Christchurch City Council anyway.’’

Buck said the funding cut would signal a change in direction.

‘‘It’s now more about getting on with things.’’

Any funding change would come in from July and would have to be agreed by the Crown as an equal contributor.

A spokesman for Megan Woods said after the meeting: ‘‘Council votes were a matter for council.

‘‘We have the money set aside in our budget and have not decided to reduce this.

‘‘We’ll be going into the talks with an open mind. We’re committed to a return to local leadership.’’

Councillors will discuss the plan further after they receive a report next month but gave widespread early support.

Cr Jamie Gough said the proposal sent a ‘‘very strong signal’’ that council expects funding to significantly reduce. ‘‘To put it bluntly, Christchurch is overagencied, and we need to lead a step-change in this space.’’

Yani Johanson said the city’s ‘‘regeneration ecosystem’’ was very costly, adding: ‘‘What we need to ensure is that the money is best spent on doing rather than just getting continuous streams of advice, often from multiple agencies that are all publicly funded.’’

And Cr Glenn Livingstone said the council should look beyond Regenerate and examine more closely whether other agencies are adding measurable value for the money they get.

Plans to increase rates by 4.98 per cent from July for houses of around $500,000 were announced last week, but that figure was cut to 4.92 per cent yesterday after fresh information on the number of rateable properties in Christchurch.

Buck suggested the $3m saving could slash average residential rates rises down to about 4.27 per cent – below the 5.5 per cent figure mooted in long-term planning last year – a move she suggested people ‘‘would appreciate’’.

She told The Press that ‘‘considerable savings’’ could be made from reassessing development agencies in the city, saying: ‘‘It’s time to wind back on numbers and funding.’’

In a statement released after the meeting, Regenerate chairwoman Sue Sheldon said the agency would discuss its ‘‘work plan’’ with shareholders next month. ‘‘In the meantime, we remain focused on progressing our work to support Christchurch’s regeneration.’’