4 Dec 2013

Council report says improvements still needed

6:48 pm on 4 December 2013

A review of the Christchurch City Council's resource management functions has found there is no evidence of systemic failure, but improvements need to be made in a number of areas.

International Accreditation New Zealand revoked the council's certification to issue building consents in July this year due to its slow handling of consents during the earthquake-hit city's rebuild.

When a Crown Manager was appointed in July to oversee the process, the average time for processing a consent took 39 days. The statutory timeframe is 20 days.

The Ministry for the Environment's final report, released on Wednesday, is a further assessment following an initial report released in July.

Environment Minister Amy Adams said the report shows the council's processing timeframes for consents are good, with more than 98% of the 1984 resource consents received during 2012-13 processed within statutory timeframes.

"There's nothing there that's not able to be overcome by council, and council have shown a real willingness to take that on board and to address those issues.

"So I think on the whole it's good to get a temperature check that it is working well - certainly points for improvement - but on the whole, they're managing well and they're committed to improving the bits that need improvement."

The council's general manager strategy and planning, Michael Theelen, said staff have been working with the ministry and have provided an action plan which addresses all 17 recommendations set out in the report.

The issues raised are not significant and all are within the council's capacity to address, he said.