The review was ordered this week, after deputy mayor Chris Staynes noted he had received an anonymous letter on the matter.
But debate on the issue has been under way since last year, when a member of the Registered Master Builders Association compiled a comparative list of fees for residential projects around the country that appeared to have done the rounds of local builders.
The list showed fees in Dunedin to be more than double those of other areas.
Building company insiders spoken to at the time agreed consent costs were higher in the city, though there was a wide variety of estimates of what the difference may be between Dunedin and other centres.
Dunedin City Council chief building control officer Neil McLeod said yesterday he had been asked to review the costs, which a staff member would do during the next week.
But he expected the review to "debunk" the criticism.
"It is rubbish," he said.
The figures doing the rounds were misleading and inaccurate, he said.
Development services manager Kevin Thompson said a wider review of the department was being done, as the council voted late last month to review the practices of the council's development services department, which covered animal control, building control, environmental health and liquor licensing.
