Williams Poto: Greater Christchurch Regeneration Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Poto: Greater Christchurch Regeneration Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 29 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9948. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]POTO WILLIAMS (Labour—Christchurch East): I want to take just a short call and reflect on a couple of clauses as they apply to the area of New Brighton.Those clauses are clause 3(1)(e) and clause 3(2)(b). What I want to relate to New Brighton is that the New Brighton area is quite a unique area within Christchurch City. It is unique. It has an interesting and eclectic mix of people living within it. It has one significant feature and it is one of the things I find really quirky about the area. In many communities a lot of the community life is driven by NGOs and community groups and the like. That is not unusual and that is part of what happens in New Brighton but there is a significant business interest in the New Brighton area. Many of you will recall that New Brighton was the first place to have the shops open on the weekends. It was what really stood New Brighton apart from the rest of the country and it has always been a unique and unusual community because of it. It has a very strong business focus. You can appreciate Mr Chairman that the earthquakes have really disrupted a lot of business throughout the whole region throughout Christchurch but particularly in New Brighton which was suffering a downturn before the earthquakes struck anyway.Why these clauses are significant for this particular area is that the regeneration of the New Brighton area is dependent on the support that we can gain for the businesses of the area. The New Brighton Business and Landowners Association is a very strong group within the area that is really striving to bring business back to the area and that is largely dependent on what happens with the New Brighton master plan.Why I am really hopeful that this model of collaboration between central government local government and other stakeholders goes as well as it can and has some significant input from the community is because I believe that in terms of the eastern suburbs their regeneration is really based on the regeneration of the New Brighton area as their retail and commercial centre. It is an area that has as I have said suffered an awful lot but it has been through a period of neglect. To ensure that the New Brighton master plan is developed to full effect will require this piece of legislation to proceed through the House—particularly with regard to the ability to acquire land because some of the issues that have occurred in the New Brighton business area have been because landowners and business owners have wanted to hold out to see what kind of return they can get on their investment and that has significantly hampered the ability to redevelop the New Brighton area.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): I am just going to interrupt the member and say that she is making a very good speech but it is a speech to Part 2 of the bill especially in the areas of specific plans and the acquisition of land. She might like to now come back to Part 1.POTO WILLIAMS: Thank you Mr Chairman. I will speak to the disposal of land in the residential red zone which is also significant for many people who are my constituents and has some relation to a group of people known as the Quake Outcasts. Many of you will know that the Quake Outcasts are a group of people who joined together because of the offer that was made to them to acquire their properties when the areas were red-zoned. Some of the residents in that area decided that they would not accept the offer for whatever reason—and there are many valuable reasons—and they made a decision themselves. But there is a small group who are concerned that this legislation—[Bell rung]The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Before I call the member I am going to reiterate the advice I gave her a couple of minutes ago. I am willing to call her again. I have read the bill and I do know which bits are in which.The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 159 in the name of the Hon Gerry Brownlee to Part 1 be agreed to.Amendments agreed to.The question was put that the following amendment in the name of Dr Megan Woods to clause 4 be agreed to:In clause 4 insert in its appropriate alphabetical order:Hagley Park Management Plan means the management plan adopted for Hagley Park in 2007 under the Reserves Act 1977.Amendment agreed to.Part 1 as amended agreed to.