Christchurch Rich Lister's wrecked home still not zoned

Rich Lister Philip Carter's $8 million wrecked home on Christchurch's Clifton Hill still awaits red zoning.

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced the latest group of homes to be red zoned.

But such are the vagaries of the red zoning system that the status of some of the city's most obviously damaged homes have yet to determined.

The hillside suburbs remain white zoned and still to be assesed.

The example of Mr Carter's clearly destroyed home, including those in the immediate vicinity which straddle huge cracks near the cliffside, highlight the absurdities of the zoning system.

This has led to suspicions in some quarters that the criteria has been tightened up for financial reasons.

Mr Brownlee today announced the worst affected properties on Christchurch’s Southshore/South New Brighton have been zoned red.

The homes on the western side of the Southshore spit closest to the Avon estuary suffered extensive damage and liquefaction, and lateral spread of up to one metre.

Mr Brownlee announced that 198 of the 401 properties in the area will have red stickers.

The properties on the other side of the road are built on more sandy soil fared better and won’t be red zoned.

Many residents at Parklands East (formerly known as North New Brighton/Burwoood) will be disappointed that their liquefaction-hit properties have been zoned green.

Parklands East has been particularly hard hit in the most recent earthquakes, which have mostly been centred out to sea from the area.

On the extensively damaged Port Hills extending to Sumner, Mr Brownlee announced the green zoning of 421 residential properties, leaving 1679 white zoned houses still under review and not yet eligible for the government payout offer.

Some of the remaining 1679 hillside homes remain at risk from rock fall and some residents in them have been ordered out by the council.

Today's announcement delaying a final decision is likely to raise complaints.

Owners of green-zoned properties can go ahead with repairs.

This may be complicated if piles are damaged because they are located in the third or so of Christchurch now deemed TC3, requiring extensive testing and drilling.

Repairs of some homes such as those on concrete pads will require innovative repair methods ranging from injected resin to cutting holes in roofs and floors to hammer in new piles.

The total number of homes zoned red is 7256.

From this number, the government has reached settlement with 3491 homeowners under its buyout offer.