KEY POINTS:
Up to 20 local authorities, including the Manukau City Council, will be investigated by the Environment Ministry because of slow turnaround in processing resource consents.
Environment Minister David Benson-Pope has directed the investigation of the councils which were failing to adequately process consents within the statutory time of 20 days.
A spokeswoman confirmed the first four authorities to be put under the spotlight were the Manukau City Council, Franklin District Council, Kaipara District Council and the Waimakariri District Council.
The move followed a 2005/06 Resource Management Act (RMA) survey of local authorities which found that while many councils appeared to operate consent processes efficiently and effectively, several did not.
Mr Benson-Pope said some had performed excellently, processing 100 per cent of consents in time. "Others, however, must lift their performance."
The ministry offered guidance and training programmes to help local government with planning and consenting processes including targeted, one-on-one assistance for selected councils but not all were be taking advantage.
"The investigation being undertaken will identify why some councils are performing badly and what further assistance is needed."
Manukau had only a 33 per cent success rate in getting resource consents processed on time.
Council environment director Ree Anderson said in late 2004 the council had started a major review of its consents processes resulting in a lot of change.
Its performance had now improved to about 59 per cent and was expected to keep getting better.
Ms Anderson said the council wanted timely results but was also focused on producing quality consents and good environmental outcomes.
Auckland City Council, while not under immediate investigation, was among the worst performers with just 52 per cent success in meeting deadlines. Resource consents manager Dave Moule said he would welcome an audit so some of the problems the council faced could be aired.
A major problem was recruitment, with a worldwide shortage of planners.
He thought the council did well given it processed 6000 consents a year, twice as many as other city councils and with about the same number of staff.
Waitakere City Council, which processed 83 per cent of land-use consents within statutory deadlines, was the fourth best performer among the large councils in New Zealand. The North Shore City Council, with 68 per cent compliance, also cited the shortage of skilled planners.
