Media Releases
Getting Better All The Time
28 October 2009
A satisfying improvement in non-notified resource consent processing times is recorded in the Far North District Council’s September statistics.
From a low point of 37% of non-notified resource consents processed within the statutory time frame of 20 days in the 2007/08 financial year, rising to 57% in the 2008/09 financial year, last month’s figures show that 98% were processed in time. This compares with 85% in July, and 96% in August and a financial year to date average of 92%.
Far North Mayor Wayne Brown says he was elected to make improvements happen and the statistics show that real progress is being made. “One of the reasons I stood for office was to fix the council’s appalling delays in consent processing times,” he said today.
“The council was all but crippling the district’s progress and driving developers nuts. I am proud that the environmental management team has achieved such a good improvement in a relatively short time.”
Mayor Brown attributed the improvement to restructuring of the council’s environmental management department under the leadership of Fran Mikulicic who was appointed General Manager in May this year.
She had reinforced the value of teamwork and worked alongside the staff to build on their potential and search for process improvements to increase efficiency and find ways to work smarter.
“We have a good team of planners who are working hard to simplify processes, focus on customer service and ease the way for development opportunities that don’t detract from the beauty of the Far North environment,” Ms Mikulicic said. “They have achieved an excellent result and we are working together to bring about further improvements.”
Mayor Brown added: “We’re making real progress and that’s what these latest statistics show. I welcome working alongside Environment Minister Nick Smith in a review of our processes to see what else we can do better in regard to consents processing.
“At the same time, the review gives us an opportunity to work with the Government and point out lots of areas where legislative improvements can be made. I see this as a win-win situation and I intend to make the most of it.”
Page created/updated: 28 October 2009 at 2:08 pm
