Simpson Scott: Canterbury Property Boundaries and Related Matters Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Canterbury Property Boundaries and Related Matters Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 03 November 2015. Volume:709;Page:7584. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): As chairman of the Local Government and Environment Committee it is always a pleasure to take a call on the first reading of a bill that is going to be directed to the committee. This Canterbury Property Boundaries and Related Matters Bill is as the Minister indicated in his opening speech part of a suite of Canterbury-Christchurch legislation that goes towards the regeneration of Christchurch as we enter into that regeneration phase. I am looking forward to guiding the select committee through this bill through our scrutiny of it and looking forward to hearing submissions from people from Christchurch and the Canterbury region.The Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 had of course an absolutely devastating impact not only in a physical sense but also in an emotional sense upon the lives of all Cantabrians. Initially the responses in the first hours and days were of course to secure human life and maintain and protect human life and then we moved into in the days and weeks that followed a period of time to clean up to tidy up and to try to gain some equilibrium again for those people who were so affected. Then of course we entered in the months that followed and the years that followed—the 5 years that have followed since—a period of recovery and we now come to this stage of the next phase which is the regeneration stage. This bill is designed to assist in that process.One of the very obvious features of an earthquake and a significant earthquake of the sort that struck Canterbury is that the land literally moves and in some places the land has moved very considerably and very dramatically; in some places less so but still importantly in terms of the legal approach to how we as a nation define land tenure and the ownership of land. And it is the very basis of our land our property-owning democracy that land is defined in a way that is measurable that does have boundaries so ownership can be well defined.What has occurred in Christchurch is that there has been a situation that has arisen that makes literally a legal fiction of some of the basic premises of our land tenure system. Landowners have not had the much-needed security and certainty that they need in order to progress their way through this regeneration phase. They have not had the ability to rely accurately upon surveyed lines and boundaries in terms of wanting to re-landscape property to rebuild dwellings and buildings and to make sure that they could do so with certainty and a robust nature. The changes that the earthquakes have strewn upon the land literally made a lie of some of the boundaries. Surveyors for instance have not been able to rely accurately on the historic lines and they have not been able to exactly determine where new boundary lines should be. There has been an area of dispute an area of concern and an area of uncertainty that must have been very professionally challenging for those surveyors and those people involved.It has been a very long time since I studied land law at Auckland University but one of the things that I do remember as a basic principle of our land law is that the general rule is that boundaries do not move with the land. So in most cases for instance where there might be a slip or something of that nature then the boundary line stays exactly where it is. The land falls where the land falls but the boundary line remains the same. That of course has not been able to be the case in Christchurch.So this bill as I read itand understand it—and I will look forward to getting into the nitty-gritty of it as it goes through the select committee—is a bill that would turn that principle on its head so that it would be a common-sense recognition that in the case of Canterbury and in Christchurch the boundaries did move with the land. So that is a significant change to the basic principle of our land law and that is why this piece of legislation which is well defined in terms of its geographic application is needed to ensure that certainty and structure can go on so that the people of Canterbury can continue with the rebuild in a way that gives them the knowledge and certainty that they need in order to do so.This bill will bring I think some much-needed clarity to people who have not had that clarity until now. The bill will ensure that the boundaries reflect the actual land changes and the real land changes. The bill will reflect a situation where the boundaries will be as landowners generally expect the boundaries to be. I think that is a very good thing. Surveyors will be able to apply the new “boundaries move” principle with certainty and they will be able to get on and do their job.There is no doubt in my mind that this bill will speed up the regeneration and the rebuild of Christchurch. I want to assure the Labour member who has just resumed her seat Megan Woods that the select committee under my chairmanship will give this bill every thorough scrutiny. There will be plenty of time for submitters to make submissions and we will be able to I am sure accommodate this bill small though it is and important though it is within the wider range of the suite of legislation currently before the committee. I commend the bill to the House.