Zoning process completed in Canterbury

Christchurch City viewed from the Port Hills. Photo / Geoff Sloan

The green-zoning of a final eight residential properties in the Port Hills of Christchurch marks the end of the zoning process in Canterbury.

Eight white-zoned properties in Lucas Lane on the Port Hills have now been zoned green and a work programme will remove almost 40,000 cubic metres of unstable land above the properties to make them safe.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said it was the most cost-effective and socially beneficial way to ensure the residents could move on with their lives.

All 190,000 residential properties in greater Christchurch are now zoned - more than 181,000 of them green and 7860 red.

Most of the property owners in the residential red zone had chosen a buyout option and were in the process of selling their property to the Crown.

He said the residential red zone offer scheme had allowed property owners to move on from the most damaged areas promptly and the Government's assistance had progressed recovery much faster than if the usual private insurance process had been left to handle the situation.

"Some parts of residential Christchurch were so damaged by the quakes that if we hadn't acted decisively property owners would have been left in a state of quagmire, both physically and metaphorically," said Mr Brownlee.

Mr Brownlee said the completion of the zoning process would allow people to move with their lives.

"When we started this process we knew it would not be easy and we knew the end results would not please everyone."

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said the council and Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority have worked hard to establish the best option for what was an unusual situation in the Lucas Lane area.

"By the end of May next year this hazard will have been removed and the owners of the homes directly threatened by it will be safe," he said.