Changes to the way building consent applications are lodged and processed are set to be rolled out across much of the central North Island from December onwards.
An initiative of the ‘Lakes Coast Cluster Group’ of local authorities, the changes will see standardised application vetting procedures introduced on 1 December, and from 1 February 2015, applicants can also opt to have applications for projects anywhere within the cluster region vetted for completeness at any one of the Cluster councils of their choosing. Where the building project is located within another cluster member’s area, the vetting Council will forward the application on for formal lodgement, once the information requirements are complete. Authorities included in the cluster group include the Tauranga City Council and the Rotorua, Western Bay of Plenty, South Waikato, Taupō, Kawerau, Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne District Councils.
Chair of the Cluster, Jeff Farrell, Manager Strategic Projects at the Whakatāne District Council, says the changes are designed to speed up the consent approval process, reduce uncertainty over processing timeframes and provide better outcomes for consent applicants.
“Work undertaken by the Productivity Commission indicated that the length of time taken to have building consents issued was having a significant impact on the productivity of the construction sector,” Mr Farrell explains. “To address that, the Lakes Coast Cluster Group of Building Consent Authorities from the central and eastern North Island examined ways of streamlining consenting processes across the region and delivering process efficiencies for all parties.”
He says the quality of applications was a key issue. “Typically, more than 70 percent of the building consent applications lodged are not able to be processed through to completion because the information provided is incomplete. That results in requests for further information, delays in approval and dissatisfaction for builders and their customers, who can’t plan their build timing with confidence. Raising the bar on the completeness of applications will ensure that accountability for information quality is sheeted home to designers, whose role is to provide clients with consentable documents. Getting the details right at the front end will also allow builders to submit tenders which are based on accurate information and generate efficiencies throughout the consent approval process. Clients will be better served by the sector as a consequence of this initiative.
“We believe this new system will provide a better building consent service by eliminating many of the delays currently experienced by applicants, providing customers across the region with a consistently enhanced experience, greater clarity about the rules, faster outcomes and savings in consent costs,” Mr Farrell concludes.
In the absence of any national, online consenting package, Taupō District Council has developed and recently implemented an online application service. The next stage of the improvement process will see other cluster councils investigating a similar service.