Barry Soper: ChristChurch Cathedral rebuild decision long overdue

This country has far too few architectural examples of our young history and they're worth preserving.

The Auckland Town Hall's one example, the Dunedin Railway Station's another and the masterpiece is the old Parliament Buildings in Wellington which taxpayers dug deep and came up with $175 million to restore and earthquake strengthen 21 years ago.

But there's another masterpiece that has been left to rot for the past six years and it's become a monument to indecision and bickering - the once magnificent ChristChurch Cathedral. It took 40 years to build from 1864 and stood proud in the heart of Christchurch until it was ravaged by the earthquake there more than six years ago.

The impressive spire and part of the tower was destroyed and the bulk of the building that remained suffered severe structural damage. Since the devastation the rubble's remained, open to the harsh Christchurch weather, further damaging the building while the bickering dragged on.

An opinion poll's just been published showing 60 per cent of the city's residents want the cathedral restored, which came as a surprise to the obstinate Anglican Bishop Victoria Matthews who came to the city from Canada just three years before the earthquake. The historical and heritage value of the cathedral seems of little interest to Bishop Matthews who's quoted as saying the "great, great heritage of this country is its natural environment, the beauty of the environment, and that's being neglected in places".

She says she gets worried about fundraising for one building and has passed the decision over what happens to it from the Anglican Church owners to the 225 member Synod, which meets must once a year. That won't happen until September.

There's a restoration funding plan, with not an inconsiderable input from the Government and concerned citizens. But they seem powerless, with the current minister in charge of getting the city back on its feet Nicky Wagner saying the delay's disappointing.

It's worse than that, it's a disgrace.

Winston Peters waded into the row a few weeks back, holding a meeting at the rubble, reminding the Government the Christchurch rebuild has earned it up to level billion dollars in tax.

Give some of it back, he implored. Even the city's mayor, former Labour MP Lianne Dalziel, says if the church can't make a decision then the Government should.

And that would be long overdue.