Notices warning dozens of Stratford buildings are earthquake prone have appeared in shop windows. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Businesses in Stratford say stickers slapped on dozens of buildings warning they are quake-prone risk turning the central Taranaki hub into a ghost town.
But the council says it is simply following government regulations to identify compromised properties.
Take a walk along Stratford's Broadway and it soon becomes apparent that every second building in the town's commercial centre has a earthquake-prone building notice prominently displayed.
Louw Robeertze's family runs the Central Butchery and Slaghuis and owns the building.
He said when they received a letter from the council requesting they get an engineering assessment, they ignored it.
"These buildings been built how many years ago and they're still standing. I mean the old people they didn't much up, they built good stuff.
"I don't see a reason why [we should get an assessment] because we'd need to get an engineer out and then you've got 40 years to get it up to standard or something and like we won't be here in 40 years."
Louw Robeertze of the Central Butchery & Slaghuis didn't bother getting a engineer's assessment done. He says customers laugh at the notices because they are in every shop window. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
He said customers scoffed at the stickers.
"You get the odd one who reads it and then they laugh about it because they see every shops has one on its windows."
Council director environmental services Blair Sutherland said Stratford was categorised as having a medium seismic risk which meant it was required to identify quake-prone buildings in accordance with the Building Act before 1 July 2027.
Letters were sent out to 89 building owners giving them a year to get an engineering assessment done - only 30 complied.
Sutherland said all those who ignored the request or failed an assessment had earthquake-prone notices put up and have until 2053 to bring their buildings up to standard or have them demolished.
Notices warning dozens of Stratford buildings are earthquake prone have appeared in shop windows and on structures such as the towns famous glockenspeil. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Matthew McDonald of Matthew and Co Real Estate also owned his building.
"We get a lot of comments from people visiting Stratford who see all these notices on the buildings and it looks like a ghost town now and it's only going to get worse.
"As business come up for sale it's going to be very hard to sell a business when it's got a notice on them and it's very hard for the building owners to sell those buildings, to raise mortgages."
Matthew McDonald of Matthew & Co Real Estate owns the building which houses his offi es and Scarpa's Shoes. He says Stratford is becoming a ghost town. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
A member of the Stratford Business Association, he wanted council to push back at the government regulations.
"We've just got to make sure council is working with the business and building owners to get a good outcome, but I don't believe putting stickers up all over town is going to achieve what's required.
"And if it's a central government thing perhaps council needs to be pushing back harder on this."
The historic King's Theatre in Stratford - built in 1916 - was the first theatre in the Southern Hemisphere to play 'Talkies" - films with sound - on 1 April 1927.
An engineer's report about five years ago estimated it would cost up to $10 million to earthquake strengthen.
Trustee Tony Gordon said the council notices were a bit over the top.
"If we were to action all this now you'd just about bulldoze the whole town, wouldn't you? Effectively Stratford would not exist apart from a couple of takeaway shops."
He said moviegoers paid no attention to the stickers.
"I mean how often do people read signs? They've become immune to them, they're everywhere. You just ignore them 'oh I never saw that'."
King's Theatre trustee Tony Gordon says if the required standards were implemented now 'you'd just about bulldoze the whole town'. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Shoppers mostly agreed.
"I don't take any notice of the stickers. I the buildings were going to fall down they would've done it ages ago," said Delray.
Debbie was concerned.
"Well yeah, have you see the state of the buildings like they look like they are going to fall down."
Sonny thought the signs were a bad look.
"They're silly, it's stupidest thing I've ever seen. It would tell a visitor this town is closing down soon. It's already a ghost town that's what they are saying."
Veronica had a pragmatic view.
"It concerned me somewhat until I read the stickers and then I thought we're not going to be around in 2050 so actually it doesn't bother me greatly."
An elderly woman had sympathy for the council.
"Well it is a shame, but I suppose they are just doing their job, aren't they?"
Sutherland said it was a requirement for all New Zealand territorial authorities to get building assessments done.
"There are almost 8000 buildings that have been identified as being earthquake prone and added to the national register. This will increase as other councils reach the end of the process."
Since issuing the notices council had received three applications for building consents for earthquake strengthening work and received one application earlier.
Sutherland said it was too early to say whether building and businesses would walk away from the town
"It's too soon to tell at this stage because the notices have a 29 year timeframe for either strengthening or demolishing the buildings."
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