DAVID WALKER/STUFF

Convicted paedophile Lloyd McIntosh, pictured in 2014, will no longer be considered for moving to a property near a primary school.

Corrections has backed down from re-homing one of the country's worst child sex offenders a kilometre away from a primary school.

But a Christchurch City councillor says New Zealanders need to have an "ugly" discussion about how high-risk offenders are reintegrated into society or "we're going to have this problem forever".

On Wednesday, Stuff revealed Corrections had earmarked a property to accommodate for up to four offenders, one of which was convicted child rapist Lloyd Alexander McIntosh, on a site close to Harewood School in the city's northwest.

In 2004, McIntosh became the first man to be subject to a 10-year extended supervision order (ESO). The paedophile's crimes include unlawful sexual connection with a 23-month-old baby and raping a 6-year-old child. He has to take drugs to control his sex drive.

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Parents and neighbours of the property said they found the move "sickening" and thought Corrections had "lulled us into a bit of a false sense of security" when a public notification excluded the name of the offender or nature of his offending.

Harewood School notified its community, but neighbours of the proposed property – one of whom shares a boundary with it – claimed they had not received the community notification Corrections delivered to mailboxes.

IAIN McGREGOR/STUFF

Christchurch City councillor Aaron Keown says there needs to be a high-level discussion about the best ways to reintroduce sex offenders into communities after a prison sentence.

Maryanne Bhatnagar, who lives on the same street as the house, said she was given "no indication" how close the property was to her own.

"My oldest is 10 and I let her walk the dog around the block. I said to Corrections, 'if my child walks down [our street], is she going to be safe?' They said 'I can't tell you what to do with your own child'."

Corrections southern regional commissioner Ben Clark said staff had spoken to "a number of people" on Thursday and Corrections remained "committed to ongoing engagement with our community".

"No final decision had been made into the future placement of Lloyd McIntosh. However, I can confirm he will not be residing at this property," Clark said.

"We fully acknowledge that the location of offenders can be a concern for communities, and we work hard to balance this concern with our obligation to safely manage offenders in the community."

According to Corrections, research shows about 90 per cent of violent and sexual child offenders are known to the victim, and the organisation's sex offender programmes have "shown to significantly reduce the risk of re-offending".

Aaron Keown, a city councillor representing the Harewood area, said Corrections were "in between a rock and a hard place" with the potential McIntosh move as staff were merely following protocol.

Keown, who lives close enough to the school that he received one of the community notifications, said his main concern with the notification was the lack of information provided.

There needed to be "a really big, high-level discussion" about how both a notification system and a process for reintegrating high-risk offenders could be developed, and paedophiles had "to be part of the discussion".

"It's going to be a big, ugly thing to go through as a society but until we do, we're going to have this problem forever."

 - Stuff