Consent processing, low fees, give Rotorua competitive edge

[Rotorua District Council chief executive Peter Guerin's 'Council Talk' column from today's Rotorua Daily Post]

When it comes to land and subdivision development Rotorua is building a real competitive edge over many cities and districts.

A new government report just released by the Ministry for the Environment provides confirmation that Rotorua District Council is successfully developing a business friendly environment for these activities.

The independent report shows Rotorua District Council is achieving very high levels for on-time processing of consent applications while at the same time offering some of the lowest consent fees in New Zealand.

The report reveals that with 98% of all environmental consents processed within statutory timeframes during the 2010/11 year, Rotorua is up amongst the country’s best performing councils.

In fact 99% of land consents were issued within government timeframes, with the council giving the green light to all 337 environmental consent applications received during the year.

Our Planning Services team has also produced very impressive results in terms of the number of consents requiring notification. Just 1.8% of all Rotorua consents had to go through a formal notification process while the national average was 6%.

These sorts of results don’t come easy. Our Planning team has been consistently working with customers, including developers and consultants, to put in place the most effective systems possible for handling environmental consent applications.

A ‘can do’ attitude combined with valuable customer feedback and a commitment to continuous improvement means that processes now in place are as good as any in New Zealand.

Rotorua District Council is also giving good value for money when it comes to consent fees. This means people and businesses wanting to develop land have the added incentive of some of the lowest consent application costs in the country,

In Rotorua applicants generally pay around half or less of the national average for such fees. For example non-notified land use consent applications in Rotorua attracted fees averaging $412 in the 2010/11 year while the national average was $934. Our subdivision consent application fees averaged $755 - pretty good value compared to the national average of $1,312.

As I have reported before in this column Rotorua District Council is taking a fresh whole-of-council approach to economic growth stimulation by embedding sustainable economic development objectives into the day-to-day operations of all council departments.

The council’s role, as one of the district’s key economic influencers, is to work with other organisations in our district to help shape an environment where sustainable economic growth can flourish.

The Environment Ministry’s new report on Rotorua District Council’s excellent consent processing performance and low consent fees suggests we’re making real progress towards the achievement of that important objective.

Peter Guerin
Chief Executive
Rotorua District Council