December 2021 newsletter

Season's greetings!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and to thank you for working with us throughout the year.

This year has been challenging for so many of us, and on so many levels. We hope you get a chance to unwind and relax over the festive season. We look forward to working with you in 2022.

Covid 19 'Orange' - what this means for you

We are now at Covid-19 ‘Orange’. The services we offer under this alert level are:

Duty planner: No meetings (in person) until further notice, contact will be by phone or email.
Pre application meetings: No meetings until further notice. Contact will be by phone, email and online meetings.
“Contactless” site visits/inspections are being carried out
All other consent processing will continue remotely.

You’ll find this information here.

Huge increase in consent applications continues

Many of you will be aware that there has been a huge increase in the number of resource consent and building consent applications over the past 12 months.

This is positive news as it shows people want to live in our district, but it does present significant challenges. As a result, we have had to make changes to our levels of service throughout the year.
It is likely that we will need to continue to extend processing timeframes on a case-by-case basis.
We know this isn’t ideal, but it is necessary, and we ask for your patience and understanding during this time. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Changes to duty planner service from January

Our team will continue with duty planner appointments (by phone only) that are scheduled up until the end of the year.

Our Duty Planner Service will not be available from 5pm on Friday 17 December 2021.
Our duty planner service will start again on Monday 10 January 2022.

Due to the high number of consent applications, our team will not be able to do any duty planner appointments from January (face to face or by phone). However, we will be able to reply to enquiries in writing. An online meeting phone call may occur if the assigned planner feels it is necessary.
You’ll find information about our duty planner service here.

Pre applications

Due to the high number of applications, we can only offer written advice. If the assigned planner feels an online meeting or phone call is required, they will contact you.

Any pre-applications lodged from now on are unlikely to be processed until after 17 January 2022, when it is expected that the Proposed District Plan decisions will be released. You’ll find more information here.

Release of decisions on Proposed District Plan

As you may be aware, Council is proposing to release decisions on the Proposed District Plan on 17 January 2022.

From this date forward applications will need to be assessed under both the Operative and Proposed District Plans. This will likely lead to longer response times for duty planner enquiries, pre applications and processing of resource consents in the time immediately following this date in mid-January.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this may create for you. For more information, click here.

Dates for December 2021 and January 2022

Here are some important dates to be aware of:

Statutory processing clock
Both the Building Act 2004 and the Resource Management Act 1991 stop the statutory processing clock over Christmas and New Year.
The period beginning 20 December and ending with the close of 10 January is excluded from the 20-working day timeframe, which means that during these dates the processing clock stops.
Resource Consents & Building Consents
The statutory working day clock for resource consents will stop Friday 17 December 2021 and will start again Tuesday 11 January 2022.
Any Resource or Building Consent submitted after Friday 17 December 2021 will not be processed until Tuesday 11 January 2022 due to the Christmas/New Year break.
Building Inspections
The last day for building inspections is Friday 24 December at 11am.
Duty Planner service
Our Duty Planner Service will not be available from Friday 17 December 2021 but will start again Monday 10 January 2022.
Engineering Services
Our engineering services (consent processing, plan approvals and inspections/clearances) will not be available after Friday 17 December 2021. It will start again from 10 January 2022.
LIM reports
The statutory ‘clock’ for LIM reports will stop Friday 17 December 2021 and will start again Tuesday 11 January 2022.
Property Enquiries
Our Property Enquiry service will not be available from close of business on Friday 17 December 2021 but will start again Monday 10 January 2022.
Offices and Libraries
Our Offices & Libraries close on Friday 24 December at 3pm. They will re-open on Monday 10 January 2022.

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