Ali Adams: Christchurch NZ Chief Executive comments on the city's positive momentum

Hopes that Christchurch will become the city that never stops, as momentum continues.

Provisional Stats NZ figures for the year to June show Canterbury's population has risen most, up 1.1 percent - more than anywhere else in New Zealand. 

Christchurch NZ Chief Executive Ali Adams told Mike Hosking that things are going well for the city on all fronts. 

She says although managing growth comes with problems, there are more opportunities 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Another prize for the country's Golden Regional Child. Canterbury remains
the fastest growing region in the country. We find out
yesterday the wider region grew one point one percent, which
is seven and a half thousand people in the year
to June, christ Church itself accounting for more than half
of that. Ellie Adams is the CEO of christ Church
in z and it's with us Ellie.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Morning, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
I reckon they'll study this one day. There's a thing,
there's a buzz, there's a vibe, there's a marbo about
christ Church in Canterbury. That's that's become almost magical, don't
you reckon?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, you know, I would love to think so, wouldn't
that be great? But I'd like to think we'd keep
going so much that that would be what they would
study is the city that never stopped kind of that momentum,
because you know, cities go in cycles and an economic
development it's a cliche, but it is all about getting
that fly wheel turning. And yeah, we are in a
really great position at the moment where things are going

(00:50):
extremely well for the city on pretty much all fronts.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
How much do you reckon? This is a fun theoretical
question for you, how much do you reckon as fomo
what started as a tangible? In other words, I move
my business, I start a business, I go for a job.
At what point did it become fomo? And people went,
you know what, I've got to get to christ you look.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I think that's a really difficult question to answer, but
it comes back to that momentum point. There's no doubt
that success grows success. So the more that people hear
that stuff is going on, the more they want to
be part of it. For example, one of the things
we talk about quite often at christ Church and z
ED is that christ Church has got these amazing companies
here doing really innovative things to solve global problems, and

(01:31):
that's really appealing to young people. That's something they really
want to do. And the more that we can tell
stories about companies that are doing that here, the more
that other companies and other students want to come here
to be part of something that's really exciting.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Do you have the breakdown how many immigrants versus locals
relocating from other parts of the country.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
I don't have the breakdown off the top of my head,
but I do know that a lot of it is
people coming south, so that a lot of it is
people locating from across the country. And now Auckland has
more people coming in from offshore and we have a
lot of people moving from particularly the.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
North Island is selone have been out of control.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
I don't think so. Look, I think it's got its challenges.
I think growth comes with challenges. I mean one of
the things we talk about in christ Church and Canterbury
more broadly is that we're a city where you can
have it all. You know, you can have a great
lifestyle and a great career, you can have a twenty
minute commute from an international airport. And managing growth is

(02:31):
always hard because the last thing you want to do
is to take away what makes your place special. So
there are some problems that come with it, but more
opportunities I would say, rather than problems.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Well, God bless you and may continue for years to come.
Elli Ellie Adams, who's the chief executive officer of christ
Church and ZID. You will note in the numbers though
the wider region at one point one percent one point
one isn't that great, but is the best in the country.
Hence the reason we did the story and the real
overarching issue for this country is the fact that we're
grinding to a massive immigration halt because we've got the
two fold things. We've got the people leaving, which is

(03:02):
bad enough in the first place, but the numbers aren't
coming in the way they used to. And we've had
many a time discussing on this program, and I do
worry that we're getting dangerously close to the point where
we're going to be a net exporter of people. So,
in other words, when your net gain it used to
be one hundred and twenty hundred and thirty thousand people
a year, and it's now down to ten, fifteen twenty,

(03:23):
and if it goes much low, it's at zero, and
then it goes to negative. Another words, you know, the
number of people coming into the country from offshore just diminishes,
and the people leaving the country continues. And that's a
country that's going backwards, and that's the last thing we need.
So if a country or a region like Canterbury can
only grow one percent and they're allegedly booming, there are
going to be regions in this country that are materially

(03:44):
going backwards.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
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