The Christchurch City Council, the Cure Boating Club in Kaiapoi and Coastguard Canterbury are among the recipients of the $6,834,000 that the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust recently granted to projects to assist in the rebuild of Ōtautahi Christchurch.

Funding to the Christchurch City Council will fund further recovery and redevelopment work along the Ōkātaro/Avon River corridor. The Trust will now fund a fourth pedestrian/cycle bridge over the Ōkātaro/Avon River at Dallington ($3,500,000) and the redevelopment of the upper terraces at Avon Park ($2,000,000).

The Christchurch City Council has also been granted $660,000 towards repairing earthquake damage to the Lancaster Park Memorial gates ($460,000) and for site works at the new location of the Citizen’s War Memorial ($200,000). This takes the total grant for work on the War Memorial to $825,000.

A grant of $80,000 will help the Kaiapoi Cure Boating Club cover the cost of balustrades for the earthquake rebuild of their clubrooms, and brings the Trust’s total grant to the club to $642,969.

Coastguard Canterbury has received a further $294,000 to assist in cost escalations on their facility rebuild at Naval Point, taking the Trust’s overall grant to Coastguard to $1,497,815.

The Trustees also added another $300,000 to the amount set aside for the Greater New Brighton community-led development programme to ensure $2 million (GST exclusive) is available for projects identified by the community.

Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust Chair, Dr Rod Carr, says “From the Trust’s establishment, the Trustees have chosen to focus on communities rather than on individuals, to not duplicate the work of government and other funders, and to fund projects that would otherwise take many years of local fundraising to address. These grants will provide better public access to, and the improve the usability of, the Ōtākaro/Avon River corridor, as well as assist in preserving our heritage. The trustees continue to acknowledge and thank the many donors who enabled these grants to be made”.

The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust was established to provide relief to the community of Christchurch and the Canterbury Region from the adverse effects of the earthquakes on 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011 and associated events. These grants lift the total grants made by the Trust to over $105.6 million. Less than $100,000 remains unallocated.

The Trust is no longer receiving funding requests. The Trustees continue to meet to allocate remaining funds and monitor grants. The Department of Internal Affairs continues to administer the Trust.

A full list of projects funded by the Appeal Trust is available at http://www.christchurchappealtrust.org.nz/Running-list

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