Kaiapoi Orange Zones - Release of Cabinet papers on land damage decisions

From the CERA web site:

In late June and in mid-August 2011, Cabinet considered papers from the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery detailing the extensive geotechnical work that has been undertaken to assess the state of affected land.

The following is a list of the papers and minutes available on the CERA web site here.

• Cabinet Paper: Land Decisions - June 2011
• Cabinet Minute of Decision: Land Decisions - June 2011
• Map showing affected areas - as at 23 June 2011
• Cabinet Paper: Kaiapoi Orange Zones - August 2011
• Cabinet Paper: Kaiapoi Orange Zones - Appendices A to E - August 2011
• Cabinet Paper: Kaiapoi Orange Zones - Appendix F - August 2011
• Cabinet Minute of Decision: Kaiapoi Orange Zones - August 2011

The last of these documents is a good place to start as it outlines in simple terms how the decision is to be made on whether land remediation is cost effective. It also shows with great simplicity how various areas in Kaiapoi were assessed.

For those unfamiliar with the Cabinet process, and the documents involved, it is quite simple and goes like this:

• Officials prepare material for Cabinet (or Cabinet sub-committees) and these are the Cabinet Papers
• Cabinet Papers invariably consist of two parts: a range of supporting material and a set of recommendations that officials invite Cabinet to approve.
• Cabinet considers the material and either accepts the recommendations in the papers or amends or replaces them as appropriate.
• Cabinet's decisions are released in a Cabinet Minute.

So, if you want to know what was decided - look for a Cabinet Minute. Want to know what information was available to Cabinet when considering an issue - read the Cabinet Papers.
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