Media Release

29 August 2019

Independent report into Kaipara District Council resource consent process

An independent report conducted by Burnette O’Connor from Barker & Associates was part of the Council agenda today (SUBS: Thursday 29 August 2019). The report was a result of a Notice of Motion at an earlier Council meeting, undertaking an independent review of the processes and procedures used by Council’s regulatory team to measure the efficiency of consents processing and how outcomes could be improved.

Lead author of the report, Burnette O’Connor, said “The review highlighted that statistically Kaipara District Council is performing well and consistently with other similar councils. Some practical systems improvements were identified, some of which are underway, and others that staff are aware of for implementation. A structure change was suggested for consideration in terms of focusing planning tasks, but is not a must do. Overall this review reinforced an outcome of the previous review, that Kaipara District Council has a passionate and committed planning team who strive hard to achieve improvements in the process and the quality of deliverables. The staff commitment is an asset to Kaipara District Council.”

Kaipara District Council Chief Executive, Louise Miller, welcomed the report saying “This independent report has some great things to say about Kaipara, and shows us the room for improvement. We’re making positive progress among the challenge of a growing district, with more complicated resource consents, but it is a difficult area to juggle, while remembering there are people at the heart of these processes. I’ll be taking these recommendations on board to continually improve the resource consent service we offer to the Kaipara District.”

A copy of the report can be found in the Council Agenda for the meeting held Thursday 29 August 2019, available on our website www.kaipara.govt.nz.

ENDS

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