14 August 2008

North Shore City building consents moving online

North Shore City residents can now track the progress of their building consents online.

Council Regulatory Committee Chair Callum Blair says that this move is yet another step in the council's ongoing efforts to simplify its processes and make them more accessible.

"This makes it possible for people to track the progress of their consent from home or work, without having to phone the office and find the particular staff member who is dealing with their application.

"All they need to do is key in the number of the consent or the address and they will see an update on progress."

Particularly since most applications go through a number of different technical experts during processing, this gives the applicant continuity that was previously lacking."

Councillor Blair says that this is a step toward a service which allows people to apply for a building consent, pay the fee, and track the progress of their application, all online.

The council is already operating a pilot programme allowing a number of larger building firms to apply for consents online. Once the system has been bedded in, this service will be made available to all consent applicants.

This is a 'first' for New Zealand and several local authorities throughout the country are looking to adopt North Shore City's model.

Councillor Blair says that the council is working steadily toward providing as many services as possible online.

"We are aware that the majority of our citizens now do much of their business online, and we need to develop our processes to make it as easy and comprehensive as possible."

ENDS

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