Church should release all documents

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says all documents held by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) in regard to the ChristChurch Cathedral will be released tomorrow.

The Minister says the Anglican Church should now also release all advice and documentation it has been working from, given the huge public interest in the issue of the cathedral’s partial deconstruction.

“There are a range of views on the very difficult decision the Anglican Church has made about the future of its cathedral, and given the significance of the building this issue is of huge concern to many people in the community.

“I believe that if the public is able to see the advice the Church has been working from there is likely to be more understanding about the extent of the damage to the cathedral, and the rationale behind the decision to partially deconstruct it.

“At this stage a demolition permit has been issued to deal with the dangerously unstable tower and further permits will be issued to partially deconstruct the building as carefully as possible to no lower than two metres,” Mr Brownlee said.

The over 1000 CERA-held pages will be made progressively available on the CERA website, www.cera.govt.nz, from 9am tomorrow morning. This process will take some hours to complete due to the volume of material.