The Hutt planning fiasco continues
Stuff reports:
Workers at Hutt City Council’s resource consents team are walking out the door, exhausted and unable to cope with record numbers of applications, a staffer says.
The council has come under fire from developers and planners who say the “broken system”, in which processing times have blown out to nine months, is putting a halt on works and increasing costs.
“The amount of stress and burnout is unreal,” said the employee, who requested anonymity.
The council received a record 650 applications last year – an increase of 50% on the previous year, which has been put down to the relaxation of housing intensification rules and an increase in developer contributions.
The increase was predictable. Of course if you put fees up, there will be more applications before they go up.
The staffer said the consents team had shrunk from 12 staff six months ago to about five. Some of those who left were so desperate to leave they did not secure new jobs before resigning. They expected more would be leaving soon.
So staff are bailing out. A good employer can retain staff by paying them more, or hiring in extra staff or contractors to reduce the load. They can even sub-contract other Councils to handle some consents for them.
The employee said the influx had been anticipated, but no planning or additional resources were put in place to cope.
So it is a failure of governance and management.
Planning consultant Dr David Batchelor raised concerns over the council’s application of the discounts.
Correspondence between Batchelor and a member of the planning team shows the council initially declining to apply the late discount to additional charges invoiced to one of his clients. After citing sections of the RMA to the staffer, the council, after consulting a legal advisor, later agreed the discount should be applied to those charges.
The Council is legally obligated to discount the fees for late consents. An applicant shouldn’t have to argue and persuade the Council to do what the law says.