CERA plans

Below is a collection of plans and related documents issued between 2011 and 2016 and published on the (now decommissioned and archived) Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) website.

This content is part of the CERA website archive.

Christchurch Central Recovery Plan#

The vision was for central Christchurch to be vibrant and well-formed, to attract people to live, work, play, learn, stay and invest. It would be safe, accessible to everyone and responsive to future changes. Building on the Christchurch City Council’s draft Central City Plan, and on over 106,000 ideas submitted by the community during the public consultation process, the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan sets out how that vision could be achieved. The Plan defines the form of the central city, sets out the locations of key anchor projects needed to optimise recovery, and outlines block plans which show what the city could look like in the future. The Christchurch Central Recovery Plan was published in July 2012.

A Liveable City#

A Liveable City is the residential chapter of the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan. It puts forward a vision and objectives for central city living, along with revised District Plan provisions and several initiatives to stimulate the development of housing and communities.

An Accessible City#

The An Accessible City transport chapter is an addendum to the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, replacing the previous Transport chapter, and was launched in October 2013. An Accessible City draft for consultation was released in 2012 along with online submissions.

The chapter was designed to work alongside the Christchurch Transport Strategic Plan which was adopted by Christchurch City Council in late 2012 and can be viewed on their website:

Christchurch Transport Strategic Plan of 2012-2042

The Blueprint Plan#

The Blueprint Plan was released in July 2012 and provided a spatial framework for central Christchurch. It sought to make visual sense of the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, showing the new central city layout and defining the locations of key anchor projects. In August 2012, the Blueprint Plan was launched in virtual 3D via the Liquid Galaxy unit developed by the Hit Lab team at the University of Canterbury. The 3D Blueprint Plan was a state of the art, interactive display that let people experience an immersive fly over of the future city.

Residential Red Zone Offer Recovery Plan#

The Residential Red Zone Offer Recovery Plan (Recovery Plan) identified that new Crown offers needed to be made to the owners of vacant, insured commercial and uninsured improved red zone properties, as soon as was practicable. Its purpose was to enable the Chief Executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), on behalf of the Crown, to make decisions about new Crown offers.

Land Use Recovery Plan (LURP)#

The Land Use Recovery Plan put land use policies and rules in place to assist rebuilding and recovery of communities (including housing and businesses) that were been disrupted by the earthquakes, helping to achieve the vision of the Recovery Strategy for Greater Christchurch: Mahere Haumanutanga o Waitaha. 

The Land Use Recovery Plan covered the metropolitan urban area of Christchurch and towns stretching from Lincoln, Prebbleton and Rolleston in the south to Kaiapoi, Rangiora and Woodend/Pegasus in the north, but didn't include the areas known as Residential Red Zones or the area covered by the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan.

Christchurch Replacement District Plan#

In 2014, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Environment Minister Amy Adams appointed five members to a panel to hear proposals and make decisions on the Christchurch Replacement District Plan. The establishment of the panel allowed development of a new District Plan to be expedited, with public consultation on 12 proposals for the Replacement Plan.

Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan#

The Draft Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan was provided to the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery in August 2015, in accordance with the Direction to Develop a Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan received in June 2014. The Draft Plan was open to public comment and included the proposed rebuild, repair and reconfiguration of Lyttelton Port needed as a result of the Canterbury earthquakes. Decisions on the Specific Purpose (Lyttelton Port) Zone provisions were made through the Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan process.

The Transition Recovery Plan#

The Transition Recovery Plan (Greater Christchurch Earthquake Recovery: Transition to Regeneration) was released in October 2015 and set out the framework for the transition of central government’s role in the recovery to long-term arrangements.

The Transition Recovery Plan detailed arrangements to be put in place when the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) ended in April 2016, including the move to local leadership, ongoing co-operation between central and local government, where functions carried out by CERA would go, a new monitoring regime, and new legislation to ensure momentum was maintained.

Advice from the Advisory Board and public comment on the draft version of the Transition Recovery Plan demonstrated strong support for leadership in the regeneration phase to rest with local institutions, resulting in a new joint entity with the Christchurch City Council called Regenerate Christchurch to keep the focus on progress in the central city, Christchurch’s residential red zones, and other areas.

A new Crown company was also established to carry on the work on major projects in the central city, and to manage and divest land owned by the Crown. 

Other plans 2011 - 2016#