A victory for the east
Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel has vowed to hold an independent inquiry into why a vital clause that would have made it easier to build houses in coastal communities was missed out of the city’s district plan.
Dalziel promised to ‘‘pull out the stops’’ to ensure the legislation is fixed and said the city council would take urgent action to get to the bottom of why it was overlooked in the first place.
At a 300-strong meeting in New Brighton on Tuesday she told residents the council was ‘‘absolutely committed’’ to resolv- ing the problem as a ‘‘priority’’.
She warned that changing the plan could take time but said she was in talks with Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods to circumvent legislation and speed up the process.
The move marks a major victory for the communities of New Brighton, Southshore and Redcliffs, whose leaders have put their political careers on the line to fight for the cause.
Coastal councillor David East and community board leaders Kim Money, Tim Sintes and Darrell Latham face disciplinary action after publicly claiming council staff had ‘‘tampered’’ with the district plan during its ratification process, something Dalziel said she was ‘‘confident’’ had not happened.
But their move drew support from politicians, the public and fellow community leaders, with some branding the threat of punishment for speaking out as a ‘‘dark day for democracy’’.
Residents rallied around their embattled representatives at Tuesday’s meeting, demanding the council drops its code of conduct actions against them.
The quartet were repeatedly cheered and clapped when they promised to keep fighting, with Latham, from the LinwoodCentral-Heathcote community board, saying the support sent a message to the council that it ‘‘had a tiger by the tail’’.
Residents have fought a lengthy battle to bring the impact of the missing clause to the council’s attention, some telling the meeting how they were left thousands of dollars out of pocket after struggling to get permission to build or extend homes.
Community leaders say they have repeatedly pleaded for help from the council and MPs, their frustrations at feeling repeatedly ignored triggering last week’s explosive claims.
Sintes, deputy chairman of the Coastal-Burwood community board, said the issue – which makes it difficult for people in areas vulnerable to flooding to get resource consent – was an injustice that had left the community with ‘‘a stigma we don’t need’’, condemning it as ‘‘criminal’’. In a direct message to the council, he said: ‘‘We all feel for the community. All we’re asking is please fix it. Just change the rules and stop making our job so hard.’’
Dalziel, who along with council chief executive Karleen Edwards attended the meeting to listen to concerns, was herself applauded when she stood to address the crowd. She told them ‘‘every councillor’’ wanted the situation resolved and they would unanimously call for urgent advice on how to do so during a council meeting today. ‘‘We are absolutely committed to putting that wording [the missing clause] into the district plan,’’ she said.
The mayor warned doing so would not do away with the need for resource consents, but should make acquiring them easier.
And she promised to find out how the clause was left out of the district plan in the first place.
‘‘I have got a very good understanding of what happened and I am confident that the plan wasn’t tampered with.
‘‘I am very keen to support the chief executive in seeking a fully independent inquiry as to how this happened, but the priority is to get it fixed first.’’