Full red-zone buy-out 'right thing to do'

Ruth Dyson
Ruth Dyson
A Labour government would ensure that all owners of red-zoned properties in Canterbury receive a buy-out offer of 100 percent of the 2007 rateable value of their land, the party's Canterbury Earthquake Recovery spokesperson Ruth Dyson says.

The Government has offered to buy vacant land and uninsured properties in red zones for just 50 percent of what they were valued at.

Ms Dyson says a full buy-out offer "is the right thing to do" for people who were unable to obtain insurance cover on bare-land or commercial properties before the earthquakes.

"Too much money has been needlessly wasted by the government forcing this issue through the courts when it was always clear that a full buy-out offer was the right thing to do," she said today.

Labour claims it is an affordable policy - that by increasing the offer for uninsured properties from the Government's 50 per cent to 100 per cent will cost $23.4 million.

"This is a drop in the ocean in the context of the rebuild," Ms Dyson said.

"It will finally allow people like the Quake Outcasts who have been stuck in limbo to move on with their lives."

Labour has also vowed that it will not use compulsory acquisition powers against red-zone property owners.

 

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