Acquisition of land during the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery
Craig Harris
The earthquakes in Canterbury, New Zealand of 2010 and 2011 caused serious disruption to the communities of greater Christchurch and damaged significant areas of land. Some areas of land were so badly affected that the government determined that they could not be rebuilt on in the medium-term. To address the impact on the community the government offered to purchase properties in those most adversely affected areas, commonly known as residential red zones. This was a unique acquisition programme, the most significant in terms of scale and number of owners affected, in the country's history. It also posed unique challenges, particularly in balancing the need to create a fair but timely process, and in assessing the most appropriate and effective way of determining purchase price. Existing legal powers and processes were not conducive to such a significant acquisition programme. This paper summarises how this acquisition process was developed and implemented, identifying the issues that arose during the purchases and also some of the unresolved issues still to be addressed as part of the rebuild of the greater Christchurch area.
Event: FIG Working Week 2016 : Recovery from Disaster
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