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Last modified: 17 May 2022 10:13am

Hundreds of building consents have been fast-tracked in the first year of an innovative Council project working with the building industry.

The Council developed the Professional Partnerships Programme to allow the fast tracking of some consents where it is safe to do so. In the first year of the partnership 25 companies and designers were accepted as partners and 279 applications were received for fast-tracking consents. The Council has reviewed the programme and is making changes to improve it and encourage a wider uptake. These include an incentive scheme with a silver tier to reward active partners completing excellent work.

The partnership has been a good way to support the industry and the community, Council Building Team Manager Vanessa Mitchell.
“When we introduced this it was a first of its kind programme, so we’ve all been learning as we go. We’ve set a good foundation for continuing to improve the programme and see it grow. We’re still facing pressure from the volume of consents, but this is one of the innovative tools we’re using to support the whole community by helping clear consents faster.”

The partnership is one of a number of measures taken by the Council to address the national shortage of consent officers and record high consent applications in Selwyn. These include developing an on the job training programme for new consent officers.