30 Jul 2014

Govt 'under pressure' over quake land

3:16 pm on 30 July 2014

The Crown was under pressure to give Christchurch residents timely decisions about quake-damaged land in 2011, the Supreme Court has been told.

A group called the Quake Outcasts has taken a case to court about the legality of the red zone in 2011 and offers by the Crown for their land following the damaging quakes.

In 2013, the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that offers of 50 percent of the 2007 land value were illegal, but it ruled that the establishment of the red zone, which deems properties uninhabitable, was legal.

The group want to be paid 100 percent of land values.

Crown lawyer David Goddard, who is representing the Earthquake Recovery Minister and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority chief executive, said on Wednesday that Government ministers were under pressure to provide information about what the Crown wanted to do with land.

Mr Goddard said that allowed people to make decisions about their futures at a time when strong earthquakes were still happening.