Here's an idea that I’m quite excited about.  

It’s quite raw – it only occurred to me at about 5:30 this morning. But I reckon it could be a solution to something that has gone on for way too long, with no sign of it ending.  

There is a one-day exhibition being held inside the Christchurch Cathedral today, of miniature models of buildings that went in the earthquakes.   

It’s happening today-only at the cathedral and will move to the Arts Centre next week. 

But I reckon this is what we should be doing with the cathedral permanently. Instead of ploughing more money into restoring it any further, I think it should be kept as it is and used as a public space for things like exhibitions, events, and indoor markets.  

Which would also free-up the rest of Cathedral Square for re-development and potentially open the door for government funding to smooth out any rough edges because it would be a truly public facility.   

Because when the Government said no to putting more taxpayer money into the restoration, it said so because Finance Minister Nicola Willis didn’t see it as a truly public facility.  

But this would be, wouldn’t it?   

Some money would be needed to do things like reinstate the rose window at the front. Tidy up the roof tiles if they need to be. The sort of stuff that would make it tidy enough and safe enough to be a permanent fixture, but not the complete restoration and everything that goes with that.   

The exhibition happening there today, by the way, is called “Ghosts on Every Corner”. Thirteen miniatures of places such as the old Smith's bookstore, Echo Records, Java Café, the police kiosk and the Deans Ave salesyard building.  

As I’ve said before, social licence for the cathedral restoration is disappearing fast. And that’s because as time goes on, a whole generation has come through with no connection to the place. And that’s going to continue.  

So we need to face that fact and come up with a different way of honouring the past - than just sticking to this pipedream that one day, somehow, we’ll have the money needed to finish the full restoration.  

I’m not saying we could do this overnight, but if the city and the church committed to this idea, then we’d have way more certainty than we have now.  

And not just certainty about the cathedral building, we’d also have certainty about Cathedral Square. Because once all the fencing around the site goes and the place is being used as an indoor events centre or indoor market, then the rest of the area can be developed.  

It would also keep the cathedral story alive. Because, at the moment, the cathedral story is at a standstill.  

Having the shell and using it in different ways would visually preserve a piece of the Square’s history without it being a handbrake on anything else happening in the area.  

So the sorts of things I see happening there would be exhibitions, like what’s happening there today, musical performances, and an indoor market.   

On the money side of things, the cathedral project people went to the Government because they don't have the $85 million they reckon they need to finish it. Nicola Willis told them they were dreaming because “public use would be limited due to the cathedral being a private, religious space."  

And not long after that, I asked her if Canterbury Museum —which is also short of money for its redevelopment— would have a better chance of getting money from the Government.  

She said it would, because it’s a public facility.  

Which is what the cathedral would be if —instead of a church— it was effectively a central city events centre bringing locals and visitors together in a building that honours the past but isn’t stuck in the past.  

I think it's a no-brainer.