July 2018 newsletter

Our winter edition

Tomorrow is August! Where has the year gone? The good news is we're now more than halfway through winter. And the cold weather hasn't stopped some great things happening around our district.

Luckily the sun was shining bright when Horotiu Primary School students planted around 700 trees on the Te Awa River Ride. The plants now line the cycle trail from just north of the Horotiu Bridge to Sullivan Road.

You may have heard about the free Haakarimata app, which has been launched by Waikato-Tainui to educate track goers about the history of the ranges. We've also finished a district-wide programme of replacing existing street lights with LED lights.

Here are the latest updates and important information about building consents and resource consents in the Waikato district.

Update from our teams

Housing inspections are currently at a moderate level. Our Building Team are also focusing on swimming pool inspections. Under Government legislation, local authorities must inspect every pool in their district once every three years.

The Proposed Waikato District Plan has been notified so our Resource Consent Team are busy helping customers understand how this might influence their consents - in particular, for those rules with immediate legal effect.

Read more from our teams here.

Meet Will Gauntlett, Consents Technical Team Leader

Will is our Consents Technical Team Leader. He is also one of our local controllers in times of a civil defence emergency. Read more here.

Processing statistics

Click here to see the final numbers for building consent and resource consent applications in the 2017/18 financial year.

What's happening: fast-tracking infrastructure in Te Kauwhata

Council will be accelerating signficant infrastructure projects in Te Kauwhata, thanks to an interest-free loan from the Government.

A new wastewater treatment plant, a significant upgrade to water supply and upgrades to some of the local roads are now in the pipeline. Read more.

Process focus: Changes to fees and charges

The Long Term PLan process has been completed for the next three years (to 30 June 2021) and, as part of this process, there are new fees and charges.

These came into affect from 1 July and there is some important information you need to know. Read more here.

Changes to be aware of

Share your future wants and needs: Our new approach to town master planning
We're taking a new approach to town master planning. Your knowledge and ideas about your community's aspirations and needs, now and in the future, will help us shape livable, thriving and connected communities. We're holding a number of workshops around the district and we'd love to see you there. Click here to learn more.

New standardised forms across the region, to make things easier for you
We've been working with other councils in the Waikato region to see how we can make things easier for you.
We're excited to tell you that from 1 August you'll see a new standardised Resource Consent Application form that is now a combined form for subdivision and land use consents. Read more.

Waikato Regional Council (WRC) stormwater guidelines
Earlier this month WRC released two new guidelines: “Waikato Stormwater Management Guideline” and “Waikato Stormwater Runoff Modelling Guideline”. Click here to read more.

New Regional Infrastructure Technical Specifications (RITS)
The RITS, which replaces the Hamilton Infrastructure Technical Specifications, is our new Engineering Code of Practice and is a means of compliance with the District Plan engineering and utilities requirements.
You can start using the RITS now but if you have projects already underway with designs relying on the HITS, we are providing a transition period for you until 1 November 2018. After this the RITS will be the default requirement for resource consents. Read more here.

Helpful tips and reminders

Here are some tips and reminders that we hope will make it easier for you when you are working with us, or when you are compiling an application.

We'd love to get your feedback

If you have any feedback about this e-newsletter, please provide it here.

Free phone: 0800 492 452

Email: info@waidc.govt.nz