April 2022 newsletter

Covid-19 and large numbers of consent applications impacting services

As staff deal with large numbers of consent applications and the impacts of Covid-19, a number of our services are on hold or impacted. We know this affects you and we apologise for the inconvenience.

Pause on resource consent pre-application service
Our resource consent pre-application service will be on hold for at least 4 months.
Staff in the Resource Consents team are currently experiencing huge demand for consenting services due to the rapid growth across the district. This, along with the release of decisions on the Proposed District Plan, and the impacts on the team from Omicron, means we cannot deliver the same level of service we have in the past. On top of this, there is a national shortage of planners and engineers due to the huge volume of work across the country.
Please be patient as we work hard to process the applications you submit with us. You can read more here.
LIM service
For the same reasons, we are currently unable to provide the 5-day urgent LIM service. All LIMs will be provided within 10 working days.
Like many organisations, we currently have staff resourcing issues due to the impacts of Covid-19. By removing the urgent service, it will enable our team to meet the 10-day timeframe for you.
Post approval and resource consent timeframes
The capacity of our teams involved in post approvals (s223 and s224) is limited because of high numbers of applications and the impact that Omicron is having. Please expect delays to occur for some time. The Consents Team is also experiencing limited capacity and as a result, s88 timeframes may be extended.

Proposed District Plan – Section 86F

All provisions in the Proposed District Plan (PDP) – excluding the Ohinewai Section – remain as legal effect only and all provisions in the Operative District Plan remain as operative until our Policy team complete their section 86F assessment.

Section 86F is an assessment of the appeals received on the PDP to determine which rules under the PDP become operative and which rules under the current Operative District Plan fall away.

This means all applications received will continue to be assessed under all the provisions of the Operative District Plan for now. Planners will not be making any individual assessments of what provisions in the PDP are effectively operative pursuant to section 86F.

Building Consents lodged prior to 17 January 2022

There have been a number of instances where a building consent lodged prior to 17 January 2022 has subsequently been caught by the new Proposed District Plan (PDP) rules and triggered the need for resource consent.

To comply with legislative requirements for assessing applications for building consents, Council must apply the rules which are applicable at the time of assessment, not at the time of lodging of the application. That means that any application not granted prior to 17 January 2022 must be assessed against the Proposed District Plan, Decisions Version as well as the Operative District Plan.

Changes to be aware of

Changes to Code Compliance Certificate applications
From 1 May we will only accept digital applications for Code Compliance Certificates (CCCs).
These applications need to be complete to be accepted. A complete application will address all the conditions identified on the building consent (Form 5).

Changes to 'Request for more information' (RFI) responses
From 1 May you will need to submit complete RFI responses for us to accept them.
To make sure the further information is accepted, you will need to:

Submit the RFI letter that you have filled in
Make sure you have a response recorded in each ‘Building Act’ item

These changes have come about following the recent audit of our regulatory functions by IANZ. These changes will enable us to use our time more efficiently, resulting in a quicker turnaround of consents, which will benefit you.

We thank you for your cooperation and playing your part.

What is the real cost of waste?

As developers, architects, building contractors and homeowners, we can all make better decisions regarding how much waste we produce and where it goes.

Did you know?
A new house build of average size sends at least 4 x 9m3 skips to landfill. With the cost of each skip roughly $700, this equates to around $2800 per build. But it’s not only the financials we should be accounting for. This means 36m3 of waste is heading off to landfill.
Often this waste is a by-product from the building and design process. This may be brand new material or even old material that, given a chance, would have a useful second life.

Click here for some things you can do to minimise the impact and help our environment.

Useful information

Water supply

On this page you'll find information about:

our network
rural supply
water meters

Stormwater

Here you'll find useful information about connecting to our stormwater network, your responsibilities, and how to keep stormwater drains free from pollutants and waste.

Our wastewater network

This page includes information about:

Septic tanks
How to apply for a new connection
Property development and wastewater
Low pressure water connection

Got feedback?

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

Free phone: 0800 492 452

Email: info@waidc.govt.nz