Mayor welcomes new Christchurch Central Development Unit

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker says the new Christchurch Central Development Unit is a “true partnership” between the Christchurch City Council and the Government.

Mr Parker says establishing the new unit to rebuild Christchurch’s Central City makes good sense and is the best way of handling the extremely important task of managing the rebuild of the central city.

“We delivered the draft Central City Plan to the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery before Christmas, always understanding that it was the Minister's call on how it was going to be implemented,” Mr Parker says.

“Under the current legislation this responsibility for implementing the plan falls clearly to central Government. We anticipated an arrangement on the same lines as the development unit.”

Last year the Government tasked the Council with preparing a Plan for the future of the Central City. Mr Parker says he was extremely proud of the Plan developed by the Council which was based on the views of 106,000 residents through "Share an Idea".

“In a number of chapters in our plan we clearly state that each of the key partners, including CERA, Ngāi Tahu, Environment Canterbury, central Government, property owners, businesses, the international investment community, contractors and utility service providers, all had critical roles to play in the rebuild of our central city,” he says.

“The Council has always been open to working closely with the private sector and central Government.  We will only succeed if we work as a team.”

Mr Parker says he is confident that what is proposed by the Government will mean that a timely and efficient implementation of the vision the Council proposed in volume one of the draft Central City Plan. This vision is based on community feedback.

“Council staff will play a critical role in the CERA project team including the unit's first task, the 100-day preparation of a blue print for the implementation of the central city redevelopment. We will be seconding staff to the new unit to ensure collaboration and cooperation,” he says.

“The Council will also remain as the consent agency for the redevelopment of Central Christchurch.”

Mr Parker says that while much of the new unit's focus will be on the private sector, the Council will continue to get on with the job of managing the public domain.

“One of the challenges is to attract significant overseas investment to assist with the rebuild of our city. I look forward to being part of the team involved in this investment promotion and attraction,” he says.

Mr Parker says he has confidence in the ability of Warwick Isaacs to head the new unit given his strong local government background. “He has the leadership skills required for the challenging and exciting role.”