Cantabs rally in Christchurch

Around 300 people have turned out to a Christchurch protest, demanding council action over the rebuild and a proposed rates hike.

The protest, organised by Peter Lynch from Cantabrians Unite, is the second major protest taken against the city council this year.

The crowd, holding placards and cheering in support of the organisers, are in the CBD for this afternoon's protest.

Organiser Peter Lynch says all Cantabrians have seen so far is a 100-day plan for a concrete jungle in the city.

He says residents need their own 100-day plan for all the red, orange and white zoners, whose fate is still in CERA's hands.

Mr Lynch says plans to hike the rates by 7.5 percent are the last straw.

"We want central government to get involved again and make sure these rates don't go above rates of inflation, but more to the point we also want them to seriously consider the possibility of us having early elections. We must change what's going on."

Peter Lynch says they will formulate a submission to the Government from suggestions at today's rally.

Cantabrians Unite spokesman Hugh Pavletich says they want to send a clear message to the council that people are fed up.

"We're still waiting some 18-19 months later for recovery to get underway. We know exactly what the problems are and we know exactly what the solutions are but we've got a failure of political leadership, mainly at the council level."

Mr Pavletich says they'll wait to hear the feedback from today's protest until deciding whether to hold another one.

"Ultimately this comes down to the people themselves. Do they want this city to recover? Or do they want to continue on this current path of failure that we've had over these last 19 months?"

Mr Pavletich says they weren't surprised no-one fronted up to represent the council at the protest.

Photo: Annette Lunn