NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Christchurch councillors brace for dressing down over consents

Kurt Bayer
By Kurt Bayer
South Island Head of News·NZ Herald·
2 Jul, 2013 05:40 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

IANZ has revoked the council's accreditation as a building consents authority. Photo / Simon Baker

IANZ has revoked the council's accreditation as a building consents authority. Photo / Simon Baker

Councillors are bracing themselves for a dressing down by government ministers tomorrow over Christchurch City Council's failure to retain accreditation for building consents.

Crunch talks between city councillors, Mayor Bob Parker and Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Minister of Local Government Chris Tremain will take place behind closed doors.

And all parties are staying tight-lipped over what will be discussed.

But councillor Glenn Livingstone is not expecting the minister to pull his punches tomorrow.

Previous behind the scenes meetings with Mr Brownlee have been described by some council officials as "wallpaper stripping sessions''.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He expects that Mr Brownlee will call for an urgent "culture change'' to take place within the council.

Asked if anyone should resign, Mr Livingstone said: "I can't see anyone coming forward of their own volition, unless there's pressure put on.''

Chief executive Tony Marryatt is not expected to be at the meeting, which will discuss the best way to resolve the consenting debacle.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Brownlee says he will put all the "options on the table'', but his office declined to comment further today.

International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) yesterday revoked the council's accreditation as a building consents authority, after it failed to improve its consenting process over the last month.

However, the council will continue to issue consents even though they will no longer be approved by the independent authority IANZ from next Monday onwards.

Mr Parker said the move was unlikely to make any difference to the council, and it would be "business as usual''.

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

Chch rebuild: Who picks up the tab?

19 Jun 11:30 PM
Opinion

Fran O'Sullivan: Dalziel must rise above party politics

21 Jun 05:30 PM
New Zealand|politics

Govt announces Chch rebuild funding

27 Jun 01:04 AM
Opinion

Fran O'Sullivan: Key's eyes on election

28 Jun 05:30 PM

IANZ last month warned the council that they had to speed up the flow of consent approvals, or they faced losing accreditation.

The Government had also threatened to step in due to the local body's "repeated inability'' to meet statutory time-frames for processing building consents.

Staff from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) had been sent to join the council's consenting department to help clear the backlog.

Council staff also had offers of assistance from other councils throughout the country, including the Auckland Council.

The council received an average of 35 building applications a day in March and April, according to the agenda from this month's planning committee meeting.

This workload led council officers to report: "We have seen backlogs develop across all process steps.''

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Brownlee had previously hit out at the council's slow response, saying: "The council knew this workload was coming and hasn't adequately addressed it''.

Labour's Earthquake Recovery spokeswoman and Christchurch mayoral hopeful Lianne Dalziel described the move as a "failure of epic proportions''.

Christchurch residents were today critical of the latest row between local and central government.

"I think everybody's almost had enough of everything,'' said Mary Ryan, retired of Hornby.

"We are trying to go ahead but everything's slowing up. The resource consents... they seem to be dragging their chains.''

Kim Hayde, a 52-year-old merchandiser of Opawa, hoped the Government would step in, because the current process was "too slow'' and was holding the rebuild back.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In Parliament today, Labour criticised the Government for not knowing about the consent problems, which were flagged as early as September last year.

Ms Dalziel asked in Parliament how Mr Brownlee had not known about the assessment report prepared in September and given to the council and MBIE in October.

Mr Brownlee said he had not been advised of the problems until June 7 but that IANZ had concerns about council's consenting process dating back as far as 2007.

"At that point I decided that this situation is intolerable and we have been taking action since that time and we will have further discussions with the city council tomorrow, because this situation cannot continue.

"I would note that the council has at all times been responsible for its own consenting and there has been quite a bit of public concern about the degree to which the Government was getting involved in council activities.

When asked if he had faith in Mr Marryatt, Mr Brownlee would not comment until his meeting tomorrow.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said it was up to the council to decide if Mr Marryatt was performing.

Prime Minister John Key said he didn't have any advice on whether it was OK for Christchurch City Council to continue to issue consents.

"We will need to check and be satisfied that those consents have the proper accreditation and there are no downstream issues around insurance for someone that had a consent issued by the council,'' he said.

- Additional reporting Kate Shuttleworth

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand|crime

Probe into man who abused girl as he read her stories led to another sinister finding

19 Jun 07:00 AM
New Zealand

'Cheeky grin': Family, school mourn 6yo victim of Pātea boat tragedy

19 Jun 06:30 AM
New Zealand

From top to bottom: Gisborne slumps to last on economic scoreboard, locals still optimistic

19 Jun 06:00 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Probe into man who abused girl as he read her stories led to another sinister finding

Probe into man who abused girl as he read her stories led to another sinister finding

19 Jun 07:00 AM

William Seddon had a collection of child abuse images, said to have led to the assaults.

'Cheeky grin': Family, school mourn 6yo victim of Pātea boat tragedy

'Cheeky grin': Family, school mourn 6yo victim of Pātea boat tragedy

19 Jun 06:30 AM
From top to bottom: Gisborne slumps to last on economic scoreboard, locals still optimistic

From top to bottom: Gisborne slumps to last on economic scoreboard, locals still optimistic

19 Jun 06:00 AM
Rotorua chef denies arson of his own home

Rotorua chef denies arson of his own home

19 Jun 06:00 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP