Christchurch Regeneration Minister refuses to release document from December Cathedral meeting

ChristChurch cathedral

The new Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Hon Nicky Wagner, has refused to release the contents of a document tabled at a 21 December 2016 meeting between Crown negotiators and Church Property Trustee representatives.

Entire pages of the document, embedded below, were redacted under the obligation of confidence and negotiation sections of the Official Information Act.

The Minister recently released various cabinet documents in relation to the Cathedral stalemate, including a 13 December 2016 cabinet paper presented by previous Minister Gerry Brownlee a week before the meeting. It recommended the approval of a $10 million payment toward the Cathedral reinstatement and a $15 million credit facility. In a Stuff article Minister Brownlee said that the offer was made in December, but diocesan chancellor Jeremy Johnson said no binding offer had been received.

 

Image credit: Robert Young (CC BY 2.0)