South struggling with building consents

Booming development in South Wairarapa is putting considerable pressure on the district council to meet new building code accreditation standards before the deadline expires this year.
Under the Building Act 2004, councils were given until this November to be registered as a Building Consent Authority by the Department of Building and Housing in an effort to address the leaky homes issue.
If a council is unable to meet the standards required for registration it can no longer issue building consents.
At yesterday's South Wairarapa District Council meeting chief executive Griff Page said resource and building consents had nearly doubled over the past year, which on top of the accreditation requirements was making life "very demanding".
"The Building Act came in in 2004 and I don't think anyone really realised the detail in it," he said. "It's really tight requirements and it's taking a lot of time for the planners and building inspectors to get through."
In order to be registered, councils will first need to be accredited by the Building Consent Accreditation Body, which involves a rigid examination of all aspects of the consents process.
Mr Page said he knew of another larger council that had already failed a number of requirements.
When spoken to after the meeting, Mr Page said progress towards accreditation was "going OK" and interviews were under way to employ another building inspector to help with the workload.
"We're on a very defined time limit, which is a little scary," he said.
"There seems to be a lot of construction going on and we're not seeing the drop-off in consents that most areas are. But we're not the only council in this position and the Department of Building and Housing is aware of the issues we're facing."
The most obvious changes to documentation and procedures are the increased level of detail required in building consent applications, which effectively means everything moves a lot slower.
Councillor Dianne Phelps said it was fine for the building authority to say "do it by November" but when there is so much happening it is not easy to keep up.
"There's a lot of building going on here in Martinborough alone and it's not slowing down, so what's going to happen to us?"
South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said it was important to note that meeting the registration requirements had nothing to do with the building inspectors' capabilities but it was a matter of finding the time to wade through the necessary legislation.
"The consents are still flowing through and we've got two very competent building inspectors right now who are working extraordinarily hard to get through the work that is on their plates," she said.
"The work that is being put in by the planning department is amazing so don't let people tell you they're suffering undue delays because it's not true."