July 12, 2014 11:00am by David Farrar

Christchurch City Council incompetence continues

The Christchurch City Council is unlikely to face consequences after a food-licensing blunder affected businesses, Local Government Minister Paula Bennett says.

All cafes, supermarkets and food manufacturers in Christchurch were left operating illegally for two weeks after food licences expired on June 30 and none were renewed by the council.

Bennett said the council would not face intervention as a result of the delay but would be under the spotlight and monitored for further botchups.

Delays in renewal were timing and administration, which the council said it had now fixed.

“The council has some unique challenges to manage on top of its core business requirements,” Bennett said.

“While I don’t believe this delay indicates the council has wider issues or that there is a need for intervention, I’ve asked officials to continue monitoring the council’s work to ensure all is on track.”

Hospitality NZ Canterbury president Peter Morrison said the blunder was “unbelievable”.

“It’s diabolical, considering all the trouble they’ve had with the building consents, that they couldn’t get a simple thing like this right,” he said.

Now consider Labour is vowing to abolish CERA in 2016 and make their mate Lianne’s council responsible for the entire rebuild.

Considering the Council lost its consenting accreditation due to incompetence, and now has failed to perform another statutory duty, can you imagine the chaos that would eventuate if they were in charge of everything.