Chorus builds against consent fees

High consent fees are contributing to an alarming drop in building new houses and sending more people in Tauranga renting, according to local builders and the city's chamber of commerce.
Tauranga chamber's chief executive Max Mason said the building consent fees were considered to be too high by many - this stifled growth and impacted on the city's competitiveness.
"This has serious implications for our economy. Our lifeblood for several decades has been inward migration, and a busy residential building industry," Mr Mason said.
According to recent Statistics New Zealand figures, Bay of Plenty and Auckland were the two regions that experienced the largest decrease in new housing during May.
In Tauranga, the building consent for a three bedroom house with a value of $300,000 costs about $19,300 assuming three hours of processing time and 14 inspections.
Mr Mason said Tauranga City Council had acknowledged there was a problem and was working with developers and builders to find solutions.
"At the heart of it is the question: 'at what point does the ratepayer make a contribution'?" Mr Mason said.
Peter Cooney, Classic Builders owner, said pricey building consents and housing affordability are behind a decreasing number of new homes in the Bay.
Mr Cooney builds in Whangarei, Hamilton, Queenstown and Napier, and he said the highest building consent costs are in Tauranga.
He said a lot of available land was held by developers, and the restricted supply pushed prices up.
"We've also got a limited amount of land available that's on an affordable level," he said. "I believe that Tauranga's growth isn't as strong as it has been, or should be."
Mr Cooney said the cost of building a new home in Tauranga was likely to push more people into renting.
David Mansel, a director of Generation Homes, said "for years we've run on a thousand building consents in Tauranga, but for the past 12 months the number has been half that."
He said the way Tauranga council put most of the funding costs onto the building consent applicant put pressure on building companies.
"It's just the way in a growth area; it's just how they fund the services they need for a growing population," he said.
"It all points back to affordability. I think it's been quite a boom area and that's pushed values up higher, above some of the smaller towns around us," said Mr Mansel.
He said, however, that in terms of labour and building supply costs, Tauranga was very competitive.
Tauranga City Council deputy mayor David Stewart agreed the council's building consent fees needed to be looked at to establish what was "fair and reasonable".
"We are certainly having a look at our figures. We need to make sure that we aren't discouraging growth and we are providing encouragement and incentive to come and live here."
Tauranga council adviser, Andrew Mead, said it cost a similar amount for a building consent throughout New Zealand, however the cost was distributed differently by each council.
In Tauranga, the majority of the cost falls on the building consent applicant rather than the subdivider or ratepayer, he said.
HOUSING PICTURE
More new dwelling units were authorised in 11 of New Zealand's 16 regions in May 2010 compared with May 2009.
In May 2010, numbers rose by 46 units (5.2%) in the North Island and by 76 units (22%) in the South Island.
The regions with largest increases were:
Waikato, up 74 units to 202.
Wellington, up 64 units to 141.
Canterbury, up 57 units to 237.
The regions with largest decreases were:
Auckland, down 109 units to 321 (there were 223 less apartments in May 2010).
Bay of Plenty, down 19 units to 67. - Source: Statistics NZ