I don’t think anyone will disagree that the heart and soul of Christchurch's post-earthquake rebuild - especially in the central city - has been delivered by the private sector.

Sure, a truckload of public money has gone into things like the Te Pae Convention Centre and the Margaret Mahy Playground. But, if you ask most people, I reckon they’ll say it’s things like Riverside Market, Little High, The Terrace and all the cafes and restaurants that are back up-and-running in town that have really brought the place back to life.

Which is why I hope Christchurch city councillors had their listening ears on yesterday when two of the most prominent developers in Christchurch turned up at council HQ and gave them what-for.

The two developers I’m talking about are Philip Carter and Shaun Stockman.

Philip Carter's name is synonymous with property and development in Christchurch, and The Crossing is one of his central city developments.

Shaun Stockman and his company Stockman Group are involved in all sorts of things. Those old buildings in town where the facades have been saved and new structures built behind them - that’s just some of the stuff that Shaun Stockman’s involved with.

So they went to the city council yesterday and told councillors that the way the council’s running things is enough for them to pull their money out of the central city.

They say the council has broken promises that were made to developers after the earthquakes. Promises, they say, investment decisions were based on.

So why are they so upset? Let’s start at Lichfield Street, which the council wants to make one-way between Madras and Manchester with a 10 kph speed limit.

Philip Carter says the council told him explicitly that Lichfield Street would remain two-way, which was critical for him because Lichfield is what he calls an “artery” for his car park at The Crossing.

Philip Carter says he's having some real trust issues with the council, which told him one thing and appears to want to do something else altogether.

He’s also unhappy about the idea of making that stretch of Gloucester Street by the Turanga central library and the convention centre one-way. I thought that was nutbar too and, thankfully, the plug appears to have been pulled.

Nevertheless, Philip Carter’s view is that the council seems intent on driving away investment in the city. And he’s starting by pulling the pin on some of his investments:

He said yesterday that if the council keeps making it more difficult to get into the central city, he will stop a development he’s got planned for the old Holiday Inn site (which he already has an international tenant lined up for).

And he’ll downscale the international hotel he plans to build next to the Convention Centre.

He told councillors yesterday that he’d recently taken an investor from the UK to a site near the convention centre and asked him if he wanted to put a hotel there. But after hearing about what had been planning to do on Gloucester St, the investor said “Why would I?”.

The thing to remember about investors and property developers is, generally, it’s not a philanthropic exercise.

Philip Carter doesn't do what he does for love. He does it for money. So, of course, he’s going to bang the table if he thinks the bureaucrats at the council are getting in the way of his money-making.

But we are kidding ourselves if we think the ongoing revival of our city is going to come from public investment.

No. It’s people like Philip Carter and Shaun Stockman and all the other developers - the people who actually do the doing - who have been so important for the city’s recovery and are so important for its future. Which is why I hope those councillors yesterday were listening.

Yes, we’ve seen this before. The people with the money making noise to get their way. But, at the same time, these people with the money could’ve quite easily gone elsewhere after the earthquakes.

Many did. But not these guys. And, because of that, they need to be listened to and respected.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.