Performance Urban Planning Website Updated

Hugh Pavletich
Performance Urban Planning
Christchurch
New Zealand

11 April 2012

Following the start of the Canterbury New Zealand earthquake events some 19 months ago, Governments at both Central and Local level have failed to address the serious issues of affordable housing supply.

This is illustrated in this morning’s edition of the local daily The Press, with the serious crisis in the local residential rental market - Christchurch Rental Property Demand Soars, Supply Plummets.

The Christchurch City Council meantime is more interested in pressing for a Rates increase of 7.5% and ensuring that destroyed and unoccupied housing is still required to pay rates - Christchurch City Council Rejects Rates Relief Plea.

This $3.5 million “issue” for the Council, at an estimated average Rates per property per annum likely involves about 2,300 properties. If the Council had acted responsibly from the time of the first earthquake events September 2010 and allowed affordable new sections on the good ground on the fringes of the City from the outset, there would likely have been an additional 5,000 plus new homes on the fringes of Christchurch by now – generating the Council in excess of $7.5 million of additional rates income. More than enough to compensate for revenue losses relating to the destroyed and unoccupied housing.

There should be open fringe zoning with “no go” areas clearly identified for sound reasons, with post development zoning.

Internally – there should be “flexi zoning” where owners on the fringe of an internal zone can obtain a zoning change, provided they obtain the consent of property owners a further 50 metres out.

Infrastructure financing for new developments on the fringes should have been sorted out now – along the lines of the elegant Texas Municipal Utility District bond financing model ( and here ). This approach is critically important as the City is endeavouring to move abruptly from the east to the north, west and south.

Further information can be obtained on the Christchurch situation by hyperlinking through from the Performance Urban Planning website to Cantabrians Unite and its constantly updated News / Discussion Facebook Forum .

The updated information at Performance Urban Planning provides a “sketch” of the sorry history of political incompetence in New Zealand. As clearly illustrated on this website, the current Government had “promised” to start in to dealing with these serious issues a the time of the November 2008 General Election – but has failed to date.

There is extensive new information provided on this website and the Highlighted Articles in particular need to be read closely. The updated Articles of Note illustrate clearly just what a fiasco the Christchurch earthquake recovery political management is. In essence – it is a situation where the Christchurch City Council is at War with its community and business.

The Academic Literature Section has been extensively upgraded as well.

ENDS

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