Tuesday 2 April 2019

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says Auckland Council is on a recruiting drive for consenting staff to keep pace with the record rate of building in Auckland.

In the year to February 2019, Auckland consents for new homes hit a record 13,847 up 25% for the same period in the previous year.

“Consents in Auckland are skyrocketing with an average of 1150 consents being issued every month,” says Phil Goff.

“Building new houses in Auckland is a priority as we deal with the pressures of population growth and housing unaffordability.

“Seven years ago we were issuing only about 3,600 consents a year and for years after that building numbers and infrastructure lagged massively behind Auckland’s growth in population.

“Auckland is in the middle of a building boom and Council wants to increase the speed at which it issues consents. However, we need more staff to ensure we can maintain this record pace of consents issued and help build more houses in Auckland.

“Council is recruiting more staff into its consenting team to manage the workload. Already Council has welcomed 156 new consenting staff in the last year which has enabled us to process a record number of consents and deal with increasing complexity. The cost of this is met fully through consent charges not out of rates.

“Recruitment is a challenge in this booming market as Council competes with the private sector for skilled staff. This has meant Council has had difficulty filling vacancies. New online and IT systems are helping streamline the consenting process for smaller consents and larger developers.

“Housing in Auckland is still in catch-up mode. Much more remains to be done to get on top of our housing shortage which is one of the biggest challenges facing our city. However, these numbers show that real progress is being made,” Phil Goff says

Chair of Auckland Council’s Regulatory Committee, Linda Cooper, says, “Council has made a concerted effort to increase the speed at which it processes consents.

“Simple consents for building a deck or a carport are turned around more quickly thanks to an online process and a Qualified Partner service provides a streamlined application process for large developers who are working off standardised plans.

“The significant increase in consents issued over the past year show that Council is making good progress and bringing on more staff will help ensure we can keep up the good work,” Linda Cooper says.

ENDS

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