The Dunedin City Council's beleaguered building services department plans to hire further staff to cope with ongoing delays to consent processing and site inspections.
The Otago Daily Times reported last month that two processors had been hired to ease the workload of the delay-plagued department.
A month earlier it was revealed processing times had blown out and several consents were outstanding after 40 working days - twice the statutory limit of 20 days .
Companies were also juggling planning around extended deadlines, with reports of some workers having to down tools and take leave to cope with the delay .
Council quality assurance officer Gillian Budd, in an emailed update on building consents, said staff were ‘‘continuing to work hard to reduce the backlog of building consents'' but the number of consents was up by about 17% on the same time last year.
‘‘While this is great for our local economy, it is affecting our workload.
‘‘We are continuing to use other consenting authorities and contractors for our processing, as well as working overtime. We are also continuing to recruit more consent processing staff.''
The increase in consent applications was affecting the timeframe for site inspections.
‘‘There is a longer waiting time than usual for site inspections.
‘‘We now have the site inspections team also working overtime in order to meet the increased demand and, as required, will be providing extra slots for inspections over the next few weeks.''
The council's website also tells those applying for consents to expect the process to take 20 to 40 working days.
Council building services manager Neil McLeod told the ODT it was hoped another consent processor would be starting soon and the council was planning to hire more site inspectors.
The council's processors were being supported by four contractors.
‘‘It's not a secret that we are struggling to process building consents and I think you will find that's a national trend.
‘‘There's a real competition around the country for experienced consent processors.''
It was taking about five working days to get a site inspection at present and the 10 staff members were stretched, he said.
‘‘We are coping at the moment by providing additional site inspections from existing staff, but that can only stretch so far.''
He believed the issue was improving and there were no longer any consents in the system over 35 days.
‘‘It will be coming down. Total consents in our system has dropped to well under 200.''
