The last of the stayers: Tide rising on remaining red zone residents

Saturday, 3 June 2023

Martin Francis on the road outside the red-zoned property he shares with his wife Rae.

More than a third of Christchurch’s red zone is set to become a floodplain for the Avon River. Four privately-owned properties – the rump of the red zone stayers – sit on that land. The city council has paid nearly half a million dollars to buy one of them out but some of the others want to stay, or go only for the right price. MICHAEL WRIGHT reports.

The route to Martin and Rae Francis’ home seems more pothole than road.

The couple, both 80, live at the back end of what was once the Pacific Park subdivision in Bexley. That was before the area was one of the hardest hit in the 2010-11 earthquakes and the land red-zoned – deemed damaged beyond repair and largely cleared of buildings and people.

Now, they are alone.

A handful of red zone residents living on Christchurch's Avon River corridor face uncertainty. The city is planning to widen the stop banks of the Avon, to restore it to something like its natural delta.

A few vehicles line the road that connects them to the rest of civilisation – dog walkers and what looks like the odd rough sleeper – and some “hoons” raced up their driveway a couple of Friday nights ago. Other than that, though, it’s peaceful.

But the Francis’ face a new threat. The regeneration plan for the Avon River corridor – a decades-long endeavour to revitalise 600 hectares of red-zoned land – includes a massive ecological restoration project to broaden the floodplain of the river.

This involves building new, lower, stopbanks further away from the Avon’s current path and returning it to something like its natural delta.

All up, the floodplain in the corridor will grow to at least 230ha – an area nearly 1.5 times the size of Hagley Park.

The couple’s home isone of three privately-owned properties sitting in that planned new floodplain. It would have been four, but the Christchurch City Council recently paid $460,000 to buy a property in Dallington.

Kerrs Reach in February 2023. The Locksley Ave property is visible on the left bank, opposite the rowing sheds.

The deal was settled in April and the house, on Locksley Ave, was demolished within 48 hours to prevent vandalism or squatting. It sat opposite the flatwater sports sheds at Kerrs Reach, on land to which the council wants to shift the facilities – another element of the regeneration plan.

The new stopbank path designated in the plan is high-level, and subject to change, but the other three properties all face at least the possibility of existing in a flood zone. Council head of parks Andrew Rutledge said any effects on them would be considered through a resource consent process for stopbank works in their areas.

The Francis’ home is close to the Avon, and the current stop bank. The property is well inside the planned new path.

“From time to time we have approached some owners where there would be a public benefit to the council owning the property to check if they’re interested in selling,” Rutledge said.

“Council’s policy in regard to purchasing property is on a willing seller, willing buyer basis.”

The Francis’ had planned to leave like everyone else, but at the time of the quakes they were uninsured and initially offered a lesser payout by the Crown.

They rejected that, and then became the de facto face of the red zone stayers.

The Francis’ rejected a Crown offer to buy their property a decade ago. “I’m stubborn,” Martin Francis says.

In the 2017 general election, Martin Francis stood as an independent in the Ilam electorate across town. A protest candidate against then Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister and Ilam incumbent, Gerry Brownlee. He won 153 votes.

Today, he says they have been approached by the council about selling. But like the earlier Crown offers, they haven’t accepted anything yet, on principle.

“I’m not chasing money,” he says. “I should’ve by rights for everything [the Government] put us through. We should be able to go from house A to house B and nothing affects our bank balance.”

Pressed on the wisdom of what they have done and what they might do next, Martin Francis demurs – “Um … yeah I don’t know” – betraying some of the indecision that has contributed to their staying put.

When The Press visited, Rae Francis’ daughter, Leigh Ray, and the couple’s friend Don Crerar – a fellow red zone refugee – were there.

“At some stage in the proceedings you’re going to have to make a decision,” Crerar tells Francis, “Because if they arbitrarily build a stop bank around here and flood it and you’ve got bulrushes and seals outside your front door then it’s not going to be very nice.”

Francis shoots back. A non-answer: “I’ll be in hell and I’ll come back and scare the shit out of them.”

Rae chimes in: “I’ve told you Don, he’s a procrastinator. You’ll never get a straight answer out of him.”

The Francis’ know they can’t stay forever.

Casa Dei Bambini preschool, on the Avon River. A planned new stop bank path currently runs behind the property.

“They love it here,” Leigh Ray says, “But their health has declined. We’ll still fight the fight … but it’s not ideal for them. It would be really nice if somebody did come and offer them something decent where they could be comfortable and looked after.”

‘A school in a park’

The other two properties in the planned floodplain are the Casa Dei Bambini Montessori preschool in Richmond and Scott Base Motors – a house turned car yard on Fitzgerald Ave.

Casa Dei Bambini board of trustees chair Cameron McPherson says the school hasn’t had a buyout offer from the council, but they have been in contact. The school community wants to stay.

Scott Base Motors, bottom right, is one of the three privately-owned properties in the planned new floodplain.

“We’ve only spoken to the extent that we want to fit into the environment,” McPherson says. “We’re a small part of the river corridor, but we’re keen to be involved. Keen to be as active in any design decisions as possible.”

Casa Dei Bambini has a roll around 30. Several of its teachers have worked there since its inception, 33 years ago.

After the quakes, the roll dipped and a protracted insurance battle didn’t end “overly favourably”, McPherson says, but the school has since survived and thrived as the red zone grew around it.

“All the fruit trees in people’s backyards that are still standing. Kids can go out and pick fruit. It’s such a unique environment that we try and maximise.”

The school wants to be part of the solution. “[We’re] keen to be as active in any design decisions as possible,” McPherson says. “The school’s got a pretty unique location now – a school in a park.”

Whatever happens will take time. Budgeting for the regeneration plan stretches to $800 million over 30 years. The council is only this month due to finally take ownership of the entire red zone from the Crown. The land has been transferred in tranches over the last four years.

In Bexley, the Francis’ won’t live to see the end of the redevelopment process.

When pressed – again – Martin Francis says he’s happy they made the right call in staying put a decade ago, “[But] if we have to [move now] it’ll be a pain in the butt.”

He’s open to offers, but has long since proven he’ll sit tight waiting for the right one.

“We would have gone 12 years ago but Brownlee played games,” he says.

“I can play games too.”