Report about Bella Vista failures arrives at Tauranga City Council

The fenced-off Bella Vista Homes properties at The Lakes in Tauranga. Photo / File

The Tauranga City Council has received the employment investigation report by retired judge Graeme Colgan about the role of staff in the failure of the Bella Vista subdivision - but it won't be publicly released.

In a media statement, the council said: "The matters raised are complex and wide-ranging".

"It will take time to consider its contents and the advice provided on how best to manage the findings.

"While focusing on staff roles, performance and accountability, the report also recommends a number of actions to address system and process issues, again, we will be carefully working through the recommendations and considering these with the appropriate teams."

Earlier this year the council had said it was unlikely the report would be made publicly available, and its statement today confirmed it wouldn't be, "given the employment nature of the report".

The investigation began in October last year.

Tauranga Mayor Greg Brownless said, at the time, the investigation was aimed at identifying the "hard truths" around council failings in its building consent authority capacity.

He also said that the council had to face the issue head-on and that it hoped to have the investigation finished by the end of the year.

In January, six of the 21 Bella Vista homeowners responded to questions from the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend and, in a combined statement, said they all thought the Colgan report should be made public.

"The report should be made public because this mistake has cost ratepayers a lot of money and they deserve to know why," was a response from one of the homeowners.

Another said: "I think the report should be completed and made public ... council have got away with enough."

A third response was: "We all, ratepayers included, are owed an explanation as to why this happened."

Bella Vista Homes went into voluntary liquidation in November 2017, leaving behind unfinished houses and millions of dollars in outstanding debts.

The city council then ordered the emergency evacuation of 21 Bella Vista houses at The Lakes in March last year, as a cyclone approached.