Last week we had ten Red Zone residents accept the crown offer and settle their properties. With another 34 scheduled this week and a further 329 settlements within the next four weeks, people are starting to move forward. While that is positive for those residents, it is important people take their time when making their decisions and get the advice they need.

Work continues assessing the land with Tonkin and Taylor coordinating 35 New Zealand geotechnical consultancies and 350 geotechnical engineers and geologists assessing land damage in the orange and white zones for the zoning process.  It’s a big job. In any given week there are 80-100 engineers supporting EQC with individual residential property assessments and teams of about 100 surveyors have been completing land level surveying work in the remaining orange zones. Analysing and processing LiDAR mapping involves hundreds of analysts and this work is ongoing.

Last week I announced that we are looking at public bus visits through the CBD red zone. We know that many people feel a sense of emotion and connection to the heart of city want to see what has happened in there.  It is still a dangerous place to be and safety will be paramount in the planning of these tours. We will be taking into account the needs of families of those who died and look to provide them with the first opportunity. We will make details available as they are finalised.

Nearly 1200 buildings in the CBD have been signed off as requiring either demolition or some sort of other work since 22 February. To date, there have been 584 completed demolitions (459 full demolitions and 125 partial demolitions to make them safe) and a further 138 demolition works are currently underway. The CBD is the largest work site in New Zealand at the current time and we are almost half way through the number of buildings that need work.  The larger, significant buildings will take longer but work has started on many of these. We have April 2012 as a target to reopen the CBD – although areas around some of the larger buildings will still be cordoned off while work on those buildings is completed.

Information sessions on the draft Recovery Strategy for greater Christchurch are now underway with meetings held in Aranui, Kaiapoi, Riccarton and Lincoln. The events are drop-in sessions with an information DVD and CERA staff available to talk about the key areas in the document - Economic, Social, Natural and Built. People are also able to make online comments at the venues and post comment forms. For further information on meetings and to read the full draft document visit http://cera.govt.nz/recovery-strategy Comments can be made there too. Copies of a summary brochure and comment form are available from Council libraries and service centres. Consultation closes on Sunday 30 October.