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The Government is working with councils and industry to maximise the recycling of the estimated 4.5 million tonnes of demolition and liquefaction waste from the Canterbury earthquakes, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Environment Minister Nick Smith announced today.

The Government has used the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act to approve changes to the Waimakariri District Plan, freeing up 550 sections at the Silverstream Estates development in west Kaiapoi.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the plan change lifts the conditional approval status placed on the land by Waimakariri District Council commissioners in September, which required adjacent land to be developed before Silverstream could proceed.

The change enables sections to go on sale almost immediately.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has welcomed the latest National Bank Regional Trends data showing Canterbury’s economy grew 1.8 per cent in the September quarter, following 2.6 per cent growth in the June quarter.

“Growth statistics for Canterbury in the last two quarters is clear evidence of recovery activity and is a testament to the resilience and commitment of Cantabrians,” Mr Brownlee said.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has today announced the rezoning of a further 758 orange zoned properties in greater Christchurch, which means over 90 per cent of the residential orange zone has been rezoned since June.

"While some people have waited a long time, and a few are still waiting, this is progress," Mr Brownlee said.

Of the 758 residential properties, 341 properties have been zoned green, and 417 properties have been zoned red.

Land on the 341 properties zoned green can be repaired individually. 

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has today announced the green zoning of 8300 non-residential properties across greater Christchurch which were previously in the un-mapped white zone.

The 8300 properties are a mixture of commercial and industrial properties, Ministry of Education and District Health Board land, parks and reserves, other community facilities such as halls, churches and child care facilities, and undeveloped private land.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says new official data shows the region’s economy continues to improve strongly, with trade through Canterbury’s ports and airport hitting a two-year high of $950 million in September.

“The recovery is well under way,” Mr Brownlee said.

“This is the sixth monthly release of this data set and consolidates a number of positive trends over the period.”

The latest Ministry of Economic Development economic indicators show steady growth being driven by trade and manufacturing.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has welcomed today's announcement that a new temporary stadium will be built in Christchurch in time for next year's Super Rugby season.

"I'm absolutely delighted the Government has been able to pull together this deal to fund building the new temporary stadium in Christchurch," Mr Brownlee says.

"This means Cantabrians don't have to miss out on major sporting and music events for another year and will have many great occasions to look forward to," he says.

Nearly 80 per cent of the remaining 8096 properties in the residential orange zone in Canterbury have been rezoned to green, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

"This confirms that a further 6430 residential properties can be either built on as is or built on with individual remediation to damaged parts of their land.  

"Property owners will now need to work with EQC to repair their land, if required, and with their insurer or EQC to repair and rebuild their homes," Mr Brownlee said.

Three new categories for residential foundation design have been developed and will be required for repairing and rebuilding homes in Canterbury following the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, it was announced today.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said the foundation designs apply to the flat land in the residential green zone in Canterbury, which has now been divided by engineering experts into three new technical categories (TC1, TC2 and TC3).

The Government has made changes to the Canterbury Regional Policy Statement to provide certainty to enable local authorities and developers to make land available for post earthquake residential development, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

"The region’s planning framework has to accommodate the extraordinary set of circumstances we face in Canterbury following the series of earthquakes over the last 13 months," Mr Brownlee said.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has welcomed the latest release of official data showing Canterbury’s economy is making steady positive progress.

Today’s release is the fifth since the data sets were first released by the Ministry for Economic Development in June, and shows a number of clear trends.

Mr Brownlee said Canterbury had been amazingly resilient over recent months, with businesspeople and employees making small but significant changes in their daily lives.

All Banks Peninsula, except for 20 properties in the Church Bay and eastern Diamond Harbour area, have been rezoned from white to green, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

"This means these homeowners can now get on with the process of repairing or rebuilding their homes if they were damaged by the earthquakes," Mr Brownlee said.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has today convened meetings in the residential orange zone with geotechnical engineers and officials in order to get clarity around the myriad of complexities that need to be sorted before rezoning can occur.

Mr Brownlee said he understood the growing frustration of those in residential orange zones, but despite a huge effort to date by hundreds of engineers and officials to find workable solutions the rezoning decisions were proving extremely complex.

A report into approvals of subdivisions in Christchurch and Kaiapoi badly affected by Canterbury's earthquakes has resulted in the Government proposing changes to the Resource Management Act to better manage the risk of natural hazards.

The Government has moved to open up more land for residential development in Kaiapoi following the announcements in June and August that around 1000 properties in the Waimakariri District had been zoned red because of severe earthquake damage.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee is using his powers under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act to address the impact of noise contours around Christchurch International Airport that could prevent new residential development in parts of Kaiapoi.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has welcomed the signing today of a final agreement between the alliance of parties that will manage the $2 billion rebuild of Christchurch’s badly damaged infrastructure.

The alliance will be responsible for repairing and rebuilding the earthquake damaged ground level and below ground infrastructure, including roads, water, wastewater and stormwater.

An interim process to enable some white zone commercial property owners in Canterbury to begin the repair or rebuilding process has been developed, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

"When the Government announced the definitions of the four zones of land in June, the white zone was defined as unmapped and included all commercially zoned property as well as schools and community facilities.

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has welcomed economic indicators released today that show the manufacturing and export sectors in Canterbury continue to perform well.

"The indicators released today by the Ministry of Economic Development also show the large earthquakes on 13 June have not had a significant impact on Canterbury’s recovery," Mr Brownlee said.

Economic activity since the 13 June earthquakes is consistent with the period following the February earthquake, he said.

Cabinet has signed off the release of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority’s draft Recovery Strategy for public consultation, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

"While the initial recovery is well underway in Canterbury, this strategy sets out a proposed direction and priorities for the long term recovery of greater Christchurch," Mr Brownlee said.

"This document will help shape how we rebuild the city and region in partnership with the private and public sector and with the people of greater Christchurch.

More than 9700 residential properties in the Christchurch Port Hills area have been rezoned from white to green, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.

"This means these homeowners can now get on with the process of repairing or rebuilding their homes if they were damaged by the earthquakes," Mr Brownlee said.

Cabinet met today in Christchurch and approved the rezoning of the majority of land in the Port Hills into the green zone. About 3700 properties remain in the white zone as further investigation is needed.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the one year anniversary of the 4 September 2010 earthquake is a time to reflect on the unprecedented events which have spilled well beyond Canterbury to touch all New Zealanders over the past year.

"The 7.1 magnitude earthquake which struck at 4:35am on 4 September was not only the largest quake to strike this country near a major population in almost 80 years, it also kicked off a series of seismic events the likes of which hasn’t been seen anywhere else in the world," Mr Brownlee said.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says Cantabrians affected by the past year’s seismic events and all other New Zealanders should have no concerns about their Earthquake Commission (EQC) claims being settled in full.

His assurance follows today’s announcement that the EQC has revised its estimated Canterbury earthquakes liability upwards by about $4 billion to $7.1 billion.

"EQC’s fund is government guaranteed to protect claimants’ interests," Mr Brownlee said.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee will next month lead a government delegation to meet insurers, re-insurers and insurance underwriters in Europe.

Mr Brownlee will take officials from the Treasury, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), GNS Science and the Department of Building and Housing (DBH) to meetings with the world's major insurance decision makers.

"We fully understand insurers’ reticence to write new cover during what is an ongoing, albeit decreasing, seismic event.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the first 3000 of about 5000 property owners whose houses were zoned red on 23 June will begin receiving government letters of offer for their properties over the next couple of days.

“We set ourselves an ambitious goal of mid-August to get offers to Christchurch’s hardest hit residents, and I’m pleased to say we’ve met that target in respect of homeowners who promptly returned their consent forms to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority [CERA],” Mr Brownlee said.