Consents go under the radar

Information about non-notified resource consent applications has been made significantly harder to find, following recent changes to Auckland Council websites.

The changes, which have resulted from Council’s aim “to achieve consistency in practice across the region” include removing the list of ‘all consents lodged’ from the former Rodney District Council’s website.

This list was regularly used by the community, alerting watchful residents to applications that they would otherwise not have known about.

Only publicly notified consents will now be listed – generally less than five percent of total consents received.

Auckland Council signalled its intention to review its policy on what resource consent information should be made public last December. There is no legal requirement for all consents to be made public, and this was done at the discretion of the local authority.

The decision to remove this information from the public domain was made at staff level by Council’s resource consents department and website team.

Resource consents manager Heather Harris says the former Council was able to list all consents because the number of applications lodged was relatively small.

She says Auckland Council’s resource consents team of 553 staff process more than 10 times the number of consents – around 200 each week.

“To collate and review this information for the website would require a large logistical effort, especially as the legacy
Councils still operate separate computer systems,” Heather says. “This is why we have chosen not to expand the Rodney practice, but to be more selective about what consent information is placed on the website.”

Heather says that members of the public can visit a local service centre to ask about potential applications and to review submitted plans and information or, alternatively, contact the call centre to enquire as to whether an application has been lodged for a particular site.

Hearings Committee chair Noelene Raffills says the decision may be revisited and that she hopes for better public access in due course.

“I have every confidence that the public will be given access to this information,” Noelene says. “It is unfortunate that Rodney needs to wait for the rest of us to catch up and implement their good ideas.”

Council must publicly notify an application if the activity will have, or is likely to have, adverse effects on the environment that are more than minor. Applicants can also request public notification.

Following a resolution made by Auckland Council in July, Local Boards can have input as to whether or not certain resource consent applications should be notified, but determinations on notification remain with officers and independent commissioners.

Published 2 November 2011