New roles in Christchurch consents department shakeup

11:40 am on 9 October 2013

The Council lost its accreditation earlier this year after failing to cope with a flood of applications as part of the region's earthquake rebuild.

Twenty managers face losing their jobs as part of a restructuring proposal.

The consultant brought in to fix the problem, Crown manager Doug Martin, says there have been extensive one-to-one interviews and staff workshops about how to deal with the huge amount of applications.

"We've actually got to resource up quite quickly to deal with this huge level of demand, so it's a very steep rise in the cliff and then it stays at that very high level for two to three years.

"I've never seen a graph quite like that before."

Doug Martin and acting chief executive Jane Parfitt announce the shakeup.

Doug Martin and acting chief executive Jane Parfitt announce the shakeup. Photo: RNZ

Mr Martin says of the 20 jobs to go, three or four will transfer to new positions - the rest will have to compete with outside applicants.

"So there's a net 12 positions been established. You could say well is that good for the ratepayer? Yes, I think it is actually. We just need to up our resourcing levels to meet the anticipated growth in demand."

Mr Martin says the new top role will be a general manager responsible for overseeing all aspects of building consenting.

He says the council will continue to outsource consenting work to other councils throughout the country to ease the consenting burden over the next three to five years.

Staff will be able to give feedback on the proposal next week and a decision is expected in late October.

Mr Martin says an advisory group made up of people in the building sector will begin meeting this month to discuss how the council's processes can be improved.