Old trees could fall for cathedral restoration
Three historic trees could be felled during the restoration of the Christ Church Cathedral under proposed new planning laws being developed to ensure the project is not held up.
The three London plane trees on the eastern and southern sides of the earthquake-damaged Christchurch cathedral were planted from the 1880s to the 1920s and are protected under local planning laws.
But new planning rules being drawn up by the Government, known as an Order in Council (OiC), propose a series of exemptions for the cathedral restoration.
The new powers would mean that resource consent for restoration would have to be approved within 40 days, would not be notified – meaning the public could not comment on the consent – and applications to potentially move the nearby Citizens’ War Memorial or remove the trees as part of restoration could not be refused.
The new powers, which would also prevent appeals on any resource consent, would be written under a law passed by the Government in 2017 to help fast-track restoration of the Anglican cathedral.
Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration Poto Williams invited written comment on the proposals and said the new powers were not being ‘‘used lightly’’.
‘‘I want to really emphasise that an OiC is a significant legislative tool,’’ she said.
‘‘It is not a mechanism used lightly. I recognise there’s a lot of public interest in the cathedral, which is one of the reasons also why I’ve also decided to seek public written comment from May 29 to June 22.’’
An explanation of the new powers released by the Government yesterday said the streamlined resource consent process was designed to ‘‘to facilitate the timely, cost-effective and certain reinstatement work associated with the cathedral, while still providing a transparent consent process’’.
The document states the historic trees and the war memorial could make restoration work more dangerous if they are left in place.
‘‘The memorial and the trees reduce the safe and efficient working space around the cathedral.
‘‘Working around these items may be possible, but it will be a dangerous and therefore a lengthy and expensive process. There is also the possibility, despite best efforts and due care, of damage to the memorial or trees as a result of reinstatement work.’’
The trees would only be removed as a last resort by Christchurch Cathedral Reinstatement Limited (CCRL), the company established to oversee restoration.
‘‘CCRL is very keen to keep the trees and will exhaust every avenue before removal becomes the only workable solution. This proposed order does not make a decision to remove the trees, instead it allows a streamlined pathway to do so only if necessary.’’
The new powers would be reviewed by an independent panel, provided to Parliament’s Regulations Review Committee for comment, and Environment Minister David Parker would be consulted.
Williams said she would make a final decision on the powers later this year.