Brownlee puts his foot down

When Gerry Brownlee was made dictator of Christchurch, with powers to amend any law and interfere in the resource consent process, the concern was that he would abuse those powers to favour specific projects and impose his own vision over that of the local community. And that is exactly what is happening. Shortly after the earthquake, Port of Lyttleton was pulled up for reclaiming land without resource consent; Brownlee has now demanded that they be given the consent on a non-notified basis, without the usual process, and subject only to a "consultation" with various groups. Which given how meaningless such consultations are, effectively means ordering that they be given the consent. Its a perfect example of everything that is wrong with National's approach. The people of Christchurch are being shut out of decisions about their own city, their own future, by back-room deals cooked up by a micromanaging dictator. They deserve better.