Campaign to save quake-hit cathedral takes new legal twist.
A legal battle to save Christ Church Cathedral is set to rage on after high-profile Auckland lawyer Mai Chen claimed the demolition order may be unlawful.
Campaign group Restore Christchurch Cathedral sought advice from Chen’s firm ChenPalmer to back up action taken by the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust (GCBT), which this month sought a binding court ruling on whether the Anglican church’s deconstruction plans breached an act of Parliament protecting church buildings.
Chen’s view was the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) breached its statutory obligation to protect heritage buildings by approving the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority’s section 38 demolition order.
In her opinion, the NZHPT signoff was required under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery (CER) Act.
The NZHPT was obligated under the the Historic Places (HP) Act to consider the “least possible alteration or loss” of heritage values despite the act being amended for emergency demolition after the February 2011 quake, Chen said.
Expert engineering advice proved the cathedral could be safely maintained in its existing state or restored to pre-quake condition.
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