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Vicki-Anne Parker runs charity NZ Gifts of Love & Strength from the former site of Central New Brighton School, but has to find a new premises soon as the site has been sold for housing.
A Christchurch charity founded the day after the March 15 terror attack may close if it cannot find a new home. Vicki-Anne Parker – founder of NZ Gifts of Love & Strength, which was established on March 16, 2019 – says the group’s future is in doubt because the land where it is based is about to be sold. Parker and a small team of volunteers provide care packages to victims of recent severe traumatic events and welcome packages to refugee families arriving into Christchurch.
The Crown has so far banked more than $3 million selling five sites – Central New Brighton, Freeville, Le Bons Bay, Glenmoor and Greenpark. Another four – Aranui, Wainoni, Burwood and Lyttelton West – are at various stages of a Government disposal process, which could lead to their sale. The Education Ministry has retained eight sites – some for future educational use and others are now home to schools that moved from their old sites.
Joseph Johnson/Stuff
The former Wainoni School site has been cleared of its buildings and is going through the Government’s disposal process. Of the five sites already sold, two were purchased by Ngāi Tahu and one by a Ngāi Tahu rūnanga.
But the council’s failure to bend the arc on rates rises down to a more palatable annual level of 2 to 3 per cent can be firmly sheeted home to its unwillingness to right-size the ship. You’ll recall that the council chief executive, Dawn Baxendale, sought to hose down last year’s concerns about the lack of rates relief as the pandemic hit, by talking a big game about her “root and branch” spending review. Expectations were high that the council’s new broom would drive robust change to the cost-plus mentality. But how many limbs have been lopped off?