Demolition of ChristChurch Cathedral could resume

Published: 3:56PM Friday May 30, 2014 Source: ONE News

The demolition of ChristChurch Cathedral has been cleared to resume following a high court judgement.

A judge has ruled a formal commitment from the Anglican church to rebuild a cathedral on the site is reason enough to lift the stay of demolition on the 133-year-old building.

CPT resolved to deconstruct the cathedral down to a level of two to three metres in March 2012, but the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust applied to judicially review that decision.

Justice Graham Panckhurst said the decision by the Church Property Trustees (CPT) to deconstruct and rebuild a new cathedral was fair and considered and their motives to demolish were neither improper, dishonest nor a conflict of interest.

And he said the argument over whether it should be replaced with a contemporary design was not for the court to decide.

The next hurdle for the church lies in convincing the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) to rubber stamp deconstruction starting again and church authorities are well aware that the wrecking ball is still some way off.

"While permission has been given for deconstruction CPT is under no illusion that that will be able to happen soon. The consent process lies before us," Bishop Victoria Matthews says.

And for long time demolition opponent Jim Anderton the battle is not over yet.

"We're not going to appeal this decision, but there could be appeals not just by us, but by others, against any decision of Cera to continue with demolition. The game isn't over by a long shot so we live in hope that we will see this cathedral restored," Mr Anderton says.

Read the rest here:
Demolition of ChristChurch Cathedral could resume