Residential red zone demolition full steam ahead

Clearances of Crown-owned residential red zone properties have picked up the pace with 2074 now completed and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority on target to complete 3000 demolitions by the end of September, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

“With 6059 properties in the red zone now sold to the Crown, work is now progressing more quickly,” Mr Brownlee says.

“Over the past 18 months our focus has been firmly on letting red zoned residents make decisions about the Crown offer.

“We can now put more effort into speeding up the clearance process.

“It’s important these areas are made safe, kept tidy and are maintained until a future use of the wider red zone is decided.

“With so many purchases and insurance assessments complete we now have large areas of activity,” Mr Brownlee says.

Two such areas in New Brighton and Dallington are currently going through different stages of area-wide clearance – one with demolitions getting underway and the other with most of the houses cleared and grass-planting about to begin.

On opposite sides of New Brighton Road, 65 properties will be demolished providing an area of almost 50,000 m sq that will be fenced and grassed, similar to a trial completed in Kaiapoi over the summer.

“Planting will begin in early June and will be completed by the end of the month,” Mr Brownlee says.

An area in nearby Dallington, where 18 properties have already been demolished, is having superfluous vegetation removed, fences erected and grass planted by early June.

Mr Brownlee says the work is another indication of how far Christchurch and its residents have come since the devastating earthquakes.

“Sometimes it’s worth taking a minute to stop and think about the scale of this, and the unprecedented work we have collectively done to enable this community to move on.

“This has been a lot more difficult for some than for others, but the main thing is that we keep moving towards a better and safer future.”