Joint plea on quake Bill

Fraser Liggett.
Fraser Liggett.
TwelveSouth Island councils have combined to make a joint plea to Government to ease some of the provisions in its earthquake-prone buildings legislation.

The project is being led by the Waitaki District Council, supported by 10 councils south from and including the Timaru District Council and the Westland and Buller councils on the West Coast.

The aim is to produce a joint submission on the Building (Earthquake-Prone Buildings) Amendment Bill being considered by the local government and environment select committee.

The Dunedin City Council considered the draft on Tuesday and the Waitaki council yesterday. The other local authorities will follow.

Waitaki policy manager Fraser Liggett said yesterday feedback from other local authorities had been positive, but replies and suggested changes would be received this week.

A draft final submission would go out to councils for approval early next week, before they closed on April 17.

The Bill proposes changes to the way property owners assess and strengthen earthquake-prone buildings.

Waitaki will also make its own separate submission, based on the joint one but highlighting local issues with the large number of heritage buildings in its district.

The same group of councils, joined by other organisations, made a submission to an earlier Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment consultation last year.

In this submission, they emphasised the challenge the proposed changes would have on their communities.

A report a year ago prepared for the councils estimated up to 22,600 rural and urban buildings south of Timaru would require assessment under the proposed changes, including more than 7440 that would either need to be demolished or strengthened.

It could cost councils up to $30 million to undertake the proposed seismic capacity assessments over a five-year period, recovered in rates or user charges.

Improving the buildings to meet requirements could cost up to $1.8 billion.

The joint spokesman for the group, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, said councils supported improvements to the way earthquake-prone buildings were managed.

However, any solution needed to be based on potential risk and be affordable for communities.

''We remain concerned that the proposed changes will place excessive costs on communities and ratepayers for disproportionately small gains,'' he said.

That was reinforced by Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher, who said there were many councils in provincial New Zealand which shared the group's concerns.

''Ultimately we are seeking legislation that reflects the varying risks, building types and building uses in our cities, small towns and communities,'' he said.

david.bruce@odt.co.nz

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