Radio NZ reports that the Christchurch City Council has voted to remove several assets from its strategic assets list, paving the way for them to be partially, or wholly, sold off in the future. Addington Arena, Lancaster Park, council-owned carparking buildings and the city’s sharehold of events company VBase have all gone from the list.

Mayor Lianne Dalziel said that made their potential sale easier, but no decisions had been made. The Mayor said “We’re not making a decision to sell it, the question is, should it be on the strategic asset list, which has a very specific audited process to change it?”

I guess there has to be a reason for having a list of strategic assets and “non-strategic” assets. It would be interesting to see what means are used to define each category. When she was a Labour MP, Lianne Dalziel opposed the Government’s power company asset sales.

Christchurch City Council also voted on its financial strategy, which included a proposed rates rise of 28 percent over the next four years.