Today, the Minister for Earthquake Recovery, Gerry Brownlee, announced a new Head of the Christchurch city development. He is Warwick Isaacs. He has been in Christchurch since the day after the February earthquake last year, leading the demolition work in the city. He knows a great deal about the buildings in the central city. He says he is a man of action – someone who likes to get things done. He has 100 days to develop a detailed plan, called a blueprint, from the draft plan.
The draft plan includes ideas from the Christchurch community. This draft plan went to the government in December. Now it is time for a detailed plan, ready for action.
One of the first things to do is to decide where public buildings will go, like a convention centre. After this decision, hotels will be built nearby and cafes and pubs. The plan needs to include other public buildings like the hospital, police station and law courts. Sometimes, the government will have to buy land from a land owner. Sometimes land owners will need to join together to share the ownership of bigger buildings. Business owners can discuss the height and location of buildings.
To make these things happen quickly, resource consent will take no more than 14 days. This is the job of the Christchurch City Council staff.
The mayor and Gerry Brownlee said that there will be a partnership between the new Head of the city development and the City Council.
Vocabulary
• announced – said this in public to the news media – TV, radio and newspapers
• blueprint – from the 19th century, detailed plans were written in white on a blue background
• draft – first ideas; when you write an essay, you often write a draft first.
• resource consent – permission to build in a certain location; this is not the same as building consent which usually takes 6 to 8 weeks.
Questions
1. Why has the government announced this new position? Is this the job of the mayor?
2. Will the community be able to agree or disagree with the blueprint?
3. Who pays for public buildings?