With a near record-breaking surge in building consents for new homes in the Waimakariri District, staff are under pressure to deliver consents within statutory processing time frames, Council said in a statement this week.
Waimakariri District Council processing time frames are currently occurring between 15 and 32 days – with 42% of new dwelling consents granted in more than 20 days in the month of December 2021.
Building Unit Manager Warren Taylor says the surge of work has been such that between August and November 2021, between 10-20% of new dwelling consents were granted outside the 20 days, while last month, 10% of all work was issued outside of 20 working days.
“We’re seeing huge demand for consents – the highest since the earthquake rebuild. The team are working to process and issue consents as quickly as possible,” Mr Taylor said.
He said that to help the Council continue its usual standard of service, a number of additional contractors have been engaged to help with the bubble of work, and two new consent processors will soon also join the team.
“Although there is more capacity in the consent processing area, the Council are also working to increase this in the PIM area. The high volume of work has increased the PIM/Compliance Check processing timeframes, and this can cause delays in processing a building consent.”
“We’re doubling the capacity of this team, but it’s going to take a while to work through training and have everything firing on all cylinders.”
“We’re mindful people are anticipating their consent will be issued promptly and we appreciate everyone’s patience as we work through this extremely busy time”, says Mr Taylor.
