An announcement on the fate of Christchurch's quake-damaged cathedral will not be made this year.
The ChristChurch Cathedral has remained a ruin since the February 2011 earthquake.
Those in favour of saving it have been in a deadlocked battle with its owner, the Anglican Church, which has expressed a preference for demolishing it and constructing a new cathedral.
In order to break the impasse, the government set up a working group to look at options for restoring it, and an announcement on its fate was expected before Christmas.
But today the Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Gerry Brownlee, and Bishop Victoria Matthews said that would not be happening.
A spokesperson for Mr Brownlee said discussions would resume in the new year.
Watch drone footage from inside the ChristChurch Cathedral in July 2016:
