Why is the Hutt City Council broken?

Stuff reports:

The Hutt City Council’s consent processing system is “broken”, with it taking up to nine months before applications are returned, developers and survey consultants say.

Under the Resource management Act, local bodies have 20 working days to return consent applications.

Kevin Melville​ is overseeing the conversion of a commercial building in central Lower Hutt into 40 new apartments. He said the delays weren’t helping anyone. The consequence of the lag was that projects were being delayed, and costs were increasing.

“It’s beyond a joke – it’s broken. It can mean it’s a year before we can start building, and the holding cost can add another 10 per cent [to the cost of a project].”

So the incompetence of the Hutt City Council might be adding 10% to the price of new houses.

Councils need to focus on their core responsibilities first. Under the law consents should be processed within 20 working days. Hutt City Council is missing that massively.

I like the idea once proposed that if a Council doesn’t process a consent on time, they don’t get to charge a fee for it. I bet you then they would manage it.

Geoff Chetwin​, director of Chetwin Surveying, said a consent he lodged in August last year came back in mid-March.

“That was for a stock-standard four-lot subdivision, nothing tricky in there. When a council’s taking six months to get a consent back it’s just ridiculous. It’s not just Hutt City, other councils are under the pump, but they’re not taking six months. Thirty or 40 days is more reasonable – I’d be happy with 40.”

Seven months for a simple subdivision.