Editorial: Criticism unfair

Tension between the Christchurch City Council and the Government is longstanding. Before the earthquakes, the dim view the Government had of local government in the area, which had led it to sack Environment Canterbury's councillors and appoint commissioners to replace them, had caused it to look critically at some aspects of the performance of the city council. It is no secret that, after the first earthquake, the Government was unimpressed with the effectiveness of the council's response and with what it saw as petty bickering that hindered swift action.

The destruction caused by the February 22 quake would have been beyond the resources of the council to cope with on its own anyway, but the Government lost no time in creating the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority to take control and endowed it with extraordinary powers to enable it get things done.

A complaint made by the Minister of Finance, Bill English, at the weekend was, however, unfair. Commenting in an interview with the Otago Daily Times on Christchurch's loss of population to other South Island areas and to Australia, and the drag on the South Island's economy of rebuilding delays, English criticised the council for concentrating on its "vision" for the city. The council should instead focus, he said, on what it had to do to get people to stay in the city. "The vision can't happen if business don't want to invest and families don't want to stay," he said.

That is perfectly true and obvious, of course, but the complaint that the council is responsible for the amount of time it has spent on trying to create a substantial plan for the city is unreasonable. The requirement that the council produce a plan for the central city zone was imposed by the Government itself and the council has worked hard to bring it to fruition. It diligently sought the opinions of residents, which produced many suggestions – some useful, some pie-in-the-sky – which it is labouring to resolve into a coherent, workable and financially viable plan, all within the very tight timetable set by the Government.

As an opinion poll published in The Press today shows, residents have generally been satisfied with the opportunity to contribute to the plan and it is hard to see how the council could have done it any more quickly. And although the Mayor, Bob Parker, and others may have spoken a little wistfully about a vision for the city, everyone is also aware of the necessity to produce a hard-nosed, realistic plan quickly that will attract business and keep people here.

While English's criticism on that score may have been unjustified, the council does still seem to have difficulty getting its head around the need to get through bureaucratic entanglements swiftly. It has emerged, for instance, that earlier this year consents for rebuilding in the white zone were being delayed by a blanket prohibition by the council. It was only after intervention by the Government that the situation changed.

In another example, albeit on a much smaller scale, the opening of Richard Sinke's new entertainment venue Dux Live! has apparently been delayed by holdups in signing off necessary paperwork. While it may not be significant in the larger scheme of things, it is little, niggly examples of red-tape hitches like that which can prove frustrating as everyone in the city, council staff included, works hard on the recovery effort.