Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill

That brings us to Part 2, which is debate on clauses 19 to 30 and Schedules 1 to 2, which is the limited extension of powers for dealing with land.

Thank you. If I could make just a couple of comments, this is really around the ability to reconfigure to assist Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), really, in the reconfiguration of the title—some 5,500 land titles for that particular precinct—and allow for the extension of time, should that be required in order to do that. I think the date is extended out to 2023—yes, here we go—just to allow for that work to be conducted by LINZ for the successful transfer of land. As I indicated in an earlier contribution, the Governance and Administration Committee were very useful in identifying that the reconfiguration required some wider definition to include some of the council land that bordered the area, and they were very helpful in providing a map for that particular function.

Part 2: this is the Part where we made some recommendations or amendments. I think these amendments are well considered—for example, this clarification of the area covered by the bill. We had a submission basically suggesting that the geographical area that the extended land powers were applied to—by now referring to the bill itself. In the beginning, the bill identified the geographical area the extended land powers were applied to by referencing the specific purpose—that is, the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor. So it’s a specific purpose zone described in Appendix 1 of the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan. But then it was noted by a submitter that this could be a concern because the definition was not particularly clear. Also, it lacked certainty, and that it was undesirable to attach a definition in an Act through a reference to a plan. So then officials, of course, considered the submission—the committee considered the submission—and therefore made some changes. I will say this is a very good change or amendment, because we clearly defined the area with a very specific map so there would be no confusion. For that particular reason, I will say that this amendment is very, very useful.

Then, of course, the committee then added transitional provisions for section 71—powers and plan processes. There are some specific amendments, of course, here—particularly on page 7 of this particular bill—basically, saying that because of the changes to the bill itself, we need some other change to make sure that some powers will continue even after the disestablishment of Regenerate Christchurch. For example, if the city council received an amendment, or suggestion for amendment, to a Resource Management Act document and could not finish before deadline, the city council could continue their work as if that section were still in force—so, similar cases, not only to the city council but also to the Ministers. This would really improve the bill, and I believe these major amendments—some would say they were minor amendments, but I would say these are quite major amendments—would improve the bill. Thanks.

Part 2 agreed to.

Schedule 1 agreed to.

Schedule 1A agreed to.

Schedule 2 agreed to.

Clauses 1 to 3

Clause 1 agreed to.

Clause 2 agreed to.

Clause 3 agreed to.

House resumed.

The Chairperson reported the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill without amendment.

Report adopted.

Third Reading