Media Release
29 August 2019
Independent report into Kaipara District Council resource consent process
An independent report conducted by Burnette O’Connor from Barker & Associates was part of the Council agenda today (SUBS: Thursday 29 August 2019). The report was a result of a Notice of
Motion at an earlier Council meeting, undertaking an independent review of the processes and procedures used by
Council’s regulatory team to measure the efficiency of consents processing and how outcomes could be improved.
Lead author of the report, Burnette O’Connor, said “The review highlighted that statistically Kaipara District Council
is performing well and consistently with other similar councils. Some practical systems improvements were identified,
some of which are underway, and others that staff are aware of for implementation. A structure change was suggested for
consideration in terms of focusing planning tasks, but is not a must do. Overall this review reinforced an outcome of
the previous review, that Kaipara District Council has a passionate and committed planning team who strive hard to
achieve improvements in the process and the quality of deliverables. The staff commitment is an asset to Kaipara
District Council.”
Kaipara District Council Chief Executive, Louise Miller, welcomed the report saying “This independent report has some
great things to say about Kaipara, and shows us the room for improvement. We’re making positive progress among the
challenge of a growing district, with more complicated resource consents, but it is a difficult area to juggle, while
remembering there are people at the heart of these processes. I’ll be taking these recommendations on board to
continually improve the resource consent service we offer to the Kaipara District.”
A copy of the report can be found in the Council Agenda for the meeting held Thursday 29 August 2019, available on our
website www.kaipara.govt.nz.
ENDS