TRANSCRIPT BOB PARKER INTERVIEW 14/04/12

New Body to Rebuild Christchurch Central City.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker has confirmed that the Government is about to launch a new plan to rebuild Christchurch city centre.

Speaking today on TV3’s “The Nation”, Mr Parker also confirmed that he had heard “rumours” that Auckland Watercare boss and architect of the Auckland super-city, Mark Ford, might head a new body to rebuild the CBD.

Mr Parker said he was expecting the Government to make an announcement next week.

“My understanding of the announcement is it's going to show us how we move from the planning phase into the implementation phase,” he said.

But he denied that the announcement would amount to a stripping of Christchurch City Council’s powers.

“I've had some conversations with Mr Brownlee about this, is that we're actually going to be working in a collaborative, cooperative manner, as we try to around all of the areas that we're currently engaged in, to get a better outcome for our city, and that’s the basis on which I'm looking forward to the announcement next week.”

But Mr Parker did take issue with Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee’s claim that the rental housing shortage in Christchurch was not yet a crisis.

“It depends how you define crisis on an individual level,” said Mr Parker.

“You know I'm not here to justify someone else's words right, but I would say on an individual level yeah it'll be a crisis for some people.”

However the Mayor also defended his Council’s decision not to offer rates remission to owners of red zone properties who are not allowed to live in their houses but who must still pay rates.

Instead he was promising the issue would be addressed again during the consultation process over the city’s latest rates rise.

“It doesn’t appear to be fair on the surface of it,” he said.

“I think it does need more work and we're certainly going to be looking at that at the moment.”

The Nation is produced by Front Page Ltd for TV3 and NZ on Air.

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