A6 NEWS Monday, June 13, 2011
THE PRESS, Christchurch
■ ROCK STABILISATION
Sumner group elated
that work to begin
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Sam Sachdeva
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A decision to push ahead with
rock stabilisation work on the
Port Hills has provided ‘‘light
at the end of the tunnel’’ for
earthquake-hit residents, an
advocacy group says.
The Christchurch City
Council has said it will start
to clear rockfall dangers from
quake-weakened hillsides,
which have forced residents
from their homes.
Homeowners had complained about the council’s
lack of communication, saying they had not been updated
on stabilisation work or given
any
timelines
despite
repeated requests to officials
and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
‘
It felt like everyone had been chasing their
tails . . . [but] now we can see a bit of light at
the end of the tunnel.
Lisa Humphrey
Sumner Red Stickered advocacy group
Regulation and democracy
general manager Peter Mitchell said the council had
decided to push ahead with
safety work on jointly owned
land, having only worked on
its own reserves to date.
The
‘‘complex’’
issue
meant stabilisation work was
the responsibility of the council, the Earthquake Commission, the private landowner or
‘‘more than one of these’’,
depending on the nature and
location of the problem.
Mitchell said the council
had allocated $800,000 for the
work, and would recover costs
from the appropriate agency
later.
Schedules and priorities
were being established, and
residents would receive more
information this week.
As part of the work, the
council would review all 480
building stickers that had
been issued in the area after
the February quake.
Mitchell said an inter-
■ OPEN DAYS
Temporary housing site draws 200
Michael Wright
[email protected]
More than 200 people toured
Christchurch’s first temporary housing site during open
days at Linwood Park over
the weekend.
Forty-one units will be
built for earthquake-displaced
homeowners by the end of
July and another 80 will
follow at Rawhiti Domain
from August.
Residents looking through
the units could take application forms or register their
interest in the housing with
the Canterbury Earthquake
Temporary Accommodation
Service (Cetas).
Two-bedroom units would
cost $271 a week, threebedroom $337 a week and
four-bedroom $423 a week.
A Department of Building
and Housing (DBH) spokeswoman said further sites were
being investigated ‘‘should
they be required’’.
Landlords had been critical of the scheme last week,
saying Christchurch’s rental
market could cope with
demand without the extra
housing.
The spokeswoman said
residents who could use the
private rental market would
be accommodated there.
‘‘We’re
encouraging
landlords to get in touch with
our Cetas service to register
their details. If there’s someone who’s needs are met in
the rental market we would
Checkup: Bill McLaughlin, of Riccarton, views a house at Linwood Park on Saturday. Jo Houghton, of the
Photo: DEAN KOZANIC
Canterbury Earthquake Temporary Accommodation Service, helps with his shoes.
put that person in touch with
the landlord.’’
Derry Gordon, of New
Brighton, was an interested
bystander at the open day.
He did not need housing
assistance, but lived opposite
the next planned accommoda-
tion site at Rawhiti Domain.
He had no problem with
the appearance of the houses,
he said.
‘‘I’m very conscious that I
don’t want to get into being a
nimby [not in my backyard].’’
However, he questioned
■ MAN ARRESTED
Excludes Nectarines
4 for
Ambulance driver unnerved Tourism
following alleged hijacking in city
gets lift
A Turangi man claiming to
have chest pains has been
arrested after he called an
ambulance and allegedly
demanded the driver take him
to Rotorua, nearly 140
kilometres away.
After driving the man
nearly 35km, the St John
ambulance officer was able to
jump out and into the safety of
another waiting ambulance in
the early morning drama
yesterday.
The alleged hijacking
occurred when an ambulance
was called to Tokaanu, west of
Turangi, about 4am, St John
acting operations team manager for Taupo and Turangi
Steve Lynch said.
The officer was flagged
down as he approached the
address and the man who had
complained of chest pains
jumped into the front seat
next to him.
The man was aggressive,
abusive, agitated and making
little sense. He did not say
why he wanted to go to
Rotorua, Lynch said.
He described him as a big,
stocky guy and said while the
officer was not physically
attacked he felt anything
could happen. The officer
feared for his safety and did
everything asked of him,
which was what he was
trained to do. He tried to calm
the situation without aggravating the man.
The officer managed to get
a radio message which contained a coded phrase to his
communications
centre,
which alerted them.
‘‘We very rarely use that
code, but when we do we pull
all the stops out.’’
When they got to Hatepe,
about 25km northeast of
Turangi on State Highway 1,
the officer pulled up behind
the Taupo ambulance, which
was parked at the side of the
road.
‘‘The officer jumped out
with the keys, jumped in the
other [ambulance] and they
drove away, leaving the
offender stranded, and the
police were there within
minutes.’’
Police arrested the man
without incident.
The officer, who was in his
30s and had been in the job for
a number of years, was very
shaken up. He had been stood
down and offered counselling.
Drink-driving runs in the family
PR51CHP_MON
the need for the houses.
‘‘I’ve not had any indication whether they have any
demand for these houses.
‘‘It doesn’t seem to me
they’ve really done serious
work on whether there’s the
need for this.’’
■ MEDIA VISIT
■ SOUTH CANTERBURY
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national rockfalls expert was
reviewing a proposed plan to
ensure it was ‘‘consistent with
international best practice’’.
A final decision on the
process was likely to be made
within two months, he said.
Lisa Humphrey, of advocacy group Sumner Red
Stickered, said residents were
‘‘thrilled’’ with the news.
‘‘It felt like everyone had
been chasing their tails . . .
[but] now we can see a bit of
light at the end of the tunnel.’’
Humphrey said the lack of
certainty had made it hard for
residents to get on with their
lives.
‘‘You’ve got financial stresses, then there’s the question
of how long we need to book
temporary accommodation
for. We’ve felt like gypsies.’’
It must have been a record,
but it’s one a South Canterbury family would surely
rather not have, after three
members were booked for
drink-driving on the same
night.
The saga began about
12.15am on Saturday when a
15-year-old boy was stopped
and arrested for drink-driving
on State Highway 1 near
Pareora.
He breath-alcohol level was
529 micrograms, more than
three and a half times the
youth limit, which is soon to
be lowered to zero.
Police refused to comment
on the state of his driver’s
licence.
The teenager was taken to
the Timaru police station for
processing, and then his
mother was called to collect
him.
She was subsequently
stopped and arrested for
drink-driving on Craigie Ave
about 2.14am, after blowing
776mcg, nearly twice the adult
breath-alcohol
limit
of
400mcg.
The woman then rang her
partner and asked him to pick
them both up. He was stopped
on North St about 3am, when
he recorded a breath-alcohol
level of 559mcg.
Francesca Lee
Journalists
from
four
countries have visited Christchurch to help show the world
that the earthquake-hit city is
back in business.
Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism and Tourism
New Zealand have arranged
27 media visits to the region to
help lift tourist confidence.
Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism media executive Cecile Dransart said 95
per cent of the city’s tourist
attractions and activities
were open.
‘‘The situation is different
from what it used to be, but
it’s still a good experience,’’
she said.
Journalists from Australia,
China, Japan, and the United
States, including Society of
American Travel Writers
president Dale Leatherman,
were among the recent
visitors.
Dransart said the organisation’s first goal was to ‘‘get
the Australians to come
back’’.
American
journalist
Carrie Buckle said she was
glad to see Christchurch ‘‘and
know that it will indeed rise
again’’.
Tourism New Zealand
funds an international media
programme that helps pay for
the visits.