Expected increased insurance premiums for historic Dunedin churches have been likened to a “tsunami about to hit”.
Dunedin diocese’s general manager Stuart Young said parishioners were ultimately the ones who would bear the costs of increased insurance premiums, brought about by the Christchurch earthquakes.
“It is a tsunami about to hit us. We face a renewal of our policy at the end of the month… we are also in a position where our broker is negotiating with a new [insurance provider],” Mr Young said.
The diocese has about seven heritage churches in the city including St Joseph’s Cathedral in city rise, and churches at Port Chalmers and Northeast Valley, with another eight spread around the region.
“We need to be sensible about what risk we take and look at a diocese-wide perspective. In the event of an earthquake we might not have insurance which will allow us to totally rebuild any [damaged] heritage churches,” Mr Young said
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