Dump truck in new subdivision surrounded by buildings

A new digital dashboard where applicants can track their Land Information Memorandum (LIM) application has been welcomed by the community and the Selwyn District Council staff who have to answer less LIM questions.

“People can now track their LIM application online and don’t need to ring the Council to get an update, so it has proven to be a win-win for both sides,” says Matt McGrath, Chief Digital Officer at the Selwyn District Council.

The new LIM dashboard is another significant step in the Council’s digital investment in the Long-Term Plan to turn a small, paper-based rural council into a digital-based, modern local authority servicing the fastest growing community in the country.

McGrath explains that the new LIM dashboard lists how many applications are in progress, how many days they are in progress, as well as the LIMS that were completed in the previous seven days.

“There has always been a lot of speculation, and at times misinformation, about how long Council takes to process consents and LIMS, but this dashboard clearly shows how many LIMs we process, how long each one takes, and what the average time is for each application,” says McGrath.

He adds that the dashboard also shows the average time it takes to process LIMs from month to month, “so there is a real motivation for staff to stay on track, because there is now real-time visibility of their work.”

Until recently, council staff used to publish PDF pages of the LIMS in process on the Council website, but that document would be out of date the moment it was published. The new dashboard was launched in April, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, says McGrath.

“It has made a huge difference for our community but also our staff, who no longer get calls or have a full inbox with requests for updates, because people can now look for themselves. We now only get calls from residents who expect their LIM to appear instantly and don’t realise it takes about 24 hours to show up.”

LIMs legally need to be processed within 10 days, and the average processing time in recent weeks has been around 8.2 days, says McGrath.

To check out the LIM dashboard please go to the Council website.

Below: Screenshot taken of the LIM dashboard.

Dashboard showing LIM data

Last modified: 04 Jun 2025 2:30pm