Finally, someone has come up with an idea for the Anglican Cathedral in Christchurch that makes a load of sense. 

It doesn’t involve running to the Government cap-in-hand. And it doesn’t involve asking ratepayers to fork out more money. 

Sound too good to be true? I know - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

But I think this is an exception. And a brilliant exception, at that. 

So, what’s happened, is business leader Humphry Rolleston has told the Christchurch City Council that what it should do, is sell its Enable broadband company to pay for the cathedral and get the square back to life again. 

Not only that - it could also pay for other heritage projects around town that are in desperate need of money. 

Before you go thinking that I've done some sort of U-turn and become a cheerleader for the cathedral, I haven’t. But I think we just have to accept that about $100 million has been poured into it, and so we’re stuck with it. It would be criminal to pull the thing down. 

Even though I think that the cathedral doesn’t have the same level of community support that it used to have. Even though I don’t buy into this notion that the cathedral was and, could again be, a tourist attraction. 

I still feel the same. But, despite all that, we have to decide if we want to be stuck with it in its current state forever or whether we want to look for a practical way forward. 

And this is a practical way forward.  

So the back-of-an-envelope numbers say that the council could sell the broadband company for somewhere around $1 billion.  

Which, Humphry Rolleston says, could be used to set up a trust, and the interest earned on that money could be used to pay for the cathedral and other heritage projects. 

These are the other three, as well as The Cathedral, that are short of cash. The Arts Centre, Canterbury Museum and the old Provincial Chambers. 

A few more numbers for you. 

Humphry Rolleston says the fund could be operating by Christmas - that’s assuming that the council could sell its broadband company that soon - and could generate about $42 million a year. 

Which is around about the amount the Cathedral project needs.  

Humphry Rolleston says: “I think this is an elegant and simple financial solution that will enable us to restore the buildings without calling on direct rate-paying support.” 

Amen to that. Pun intended. 

And the reason why I think this is such a good idea, again, comes down to numbers. 

In the last financial year, the Enable broadband company paid out a $25 million dividend to the council. And that is expected to increase to $35 million a year in 2028.  

That’s a 3.5 percent return on our money. Which is chickenfeed. 

Now, you consider what the return might be to the city if the cathedral, especially, was fixed up and the square able to be returned to its former glory?  

More than $25-to-$35 million. And you imagine all of that happening without more ratepayer money going into it. 

It is an absolute no-brainer, as far as I'm concerned.

LISTEN ABOVE