Auckland Council’s Value for Money Committee has asked the council to strengthen its focus on how its resource consents service meets the evolving needs of customers and communities. This follows a review presented to the committee in March as part of the council’s ongoing commitment to improving value for money, effectiveness of service delivery and sound financial stewardship.
Almost a quarter of all resource consent applications in Aotearoa New Zealand are processed by Auckland Council - more than 15,000 per year, or an average of 41 every day.
Mayor Wayne Brown says this review meets his priorities for Auckland Council to be more agile, transparent and accountable.
“I have been asking for the council to find ways of doing things differently, to improve the services we offer and to ease the many obstacles people experience when doing business with the council.
“I want us to deliver everything better, faster, cheaper so I asked for this review to understand how we can raise performance and better meet the needs of the market and related legislative changes ahead.
“The findings of the review are sobering. I've been clear with the council staff that I want to see measurable improvements quickly and I'll be working closely with them and the development community to make sure this happens,” says Mayor Brown.
“We have had two meetings with the development community as part of my Mayoral Developer Forum. During these forums, we’ve discussed improvements that can be made on both sides.
“On the council side, it was clear that there was a need to improve the consenting process. It needs to become more uniform, developers tell us that under a good system it shouldn’t matter which planner they’re dealing with.
“I’m recommending to the CEO that we have senior planners provide more support and guidance to the more inexperienced workforce.
“We need to get away from box ticking exercises and use more common sense.”
Deputy Mayor Simpson says Auckland Council’s resource consent service is the busiest in the country, processing all consents for customers in the Auckland region, including homeowners, developers, business and commercial.
“It’s a huge workload and shows just how critical Auckland is in supporting our country’s growth.
“Value for Money reviews are opportunities for us to take a careful look at where we can lift our game and focus on improvements that deliver the best outcomes,” says Deputy Mayor Simpson.
“We’ve heard peoples’ frustrations and are working proactively to make sure the changes we put in place genuinely improve the experience for Aucklanders.”
Currently, Auckland Council approves 98 per cent of the consents it receives and processes more than 80 per cent - approximately 12,000 per year, or an average of 33 per day - within statutory timeframes, but complex projects and incomplete applications can take longer.
Head of Resource Consents, James Hassall, says the review creates an opportunity to respond to changes in the consenting landscape.
“The consenting space is always moving to respond to new data on natural hazards, new policies from central government, and a growing increase in applications. As the busiest consents department in the country, we need to be able to adapt accordingly to make solid consenting decisions that stand the test of time.
“We see this feedback as an opportunity to make sure we are the consenting authority that Aucklanders need, and want, us to be. The review will help focus our service improvement and get the best outcomes for Aucklanders and all customers,” he says.
Streamlined and premium services well trusted
Customers reported they value the council's streamlined consents service, which is uniquely offered by Auckland Council. It provides an accelerated pathway for straight-forward consents, consistently completing them in nine days.
Similarly, customers reported high trust in the premium consents service due to its strong customer support, dedicated project teams and faster decisions.
James Hassall says the robust delivery models of these well-trusted services are blueprints for improvements to the standard resource consents service.
“We are committed to improving the efficiency of the service we offer for our customers, particularly as we continue to face an increase in both the volume and complexity of resource consent applications. We will use the highly valued delivery models of the streamlined and premium services as a basis for improvements to our standard resource consent service,” he says.
What’s changing?
The review findings highlighted the cost and the time it takes to approve applications as two areas that could be improved in the standard resource consents service.
To help achieve this, the council will prioritise reducing costs and the elapsed time for consents to be approved, by:
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building on its commitment to deliver good outcomes for customers, including strengthening engagement between the resource consents team and applicants.
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resource consent planners taking a more prominent role in changes to the Auckland Unitary Plan, to ensure resource consents are a focus, and using Resource Management Act tools to reduce the need for consents where possible.
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building a more consistent approach across the team.
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becoming a regionally recognised training provider for participants in the resource consenting process.
Lodging an application? Here’s what you can do to speed up the process
- Talk to Auckland Council before you lodge a consent application, either through the planning helpdesk or a pre-application meeting.
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Talk to Watercare and Auckland Transport about water and road connections.
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Make sure your application is as complete as possible.
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Respond to any requests for further information as quickly as you can.
Resource consents statistics
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Auckland Council processes almost a quarter of all resource consents in Aotearoa New Zealand
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The council processes approximately 15,000 resource consents per year, or an average of 41 every day.
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98 per cent of resource consent applications received by the council are approved.
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80 per cent (approximately 12,000 per year, or an average of 33 per day) are processed within statutory timeframes.