Memorial reserve wanted in red zone

12:13 pm on 8 August 2011

A campaign has been launched to have the residential red zone in Christchurch turned into a memorial reserve.

More than 5000 properties have so far been idenfitied as having to be abandoned because of the earthquakes. Many of these are on the banks of the eastern part of the Avon River.

The Government says the land will remain as residential zoned land, and may be remediated and rebuilt on in the future.

However, red zone resident Evan Smith says he is part of a network which wants a covenant placed on the land so it remains in public ownership, and is developed as a memorial reserve.

He says there are only a couple of dozen people in the network at the moment, but there is a lot of interest in the proposal.