Council building bureaucracy 'crap' - couple

The new door at Super Cheap Autos in Victoria Avenue.

Mary and Dean Wyley were surprised when they were told they would need a building consent to replace a door on their commercial premises.

Hundreds of dollars and many weeks later, they feel they have been mugged by bureaucratic red tape.

The Wyleys family trust owns the Super Cheap Autos building at the top of Whanganui's Victoria Avenue, and they wanted to replace the main entrance, an automatic sliding door.

Because the door acts as a fire escape, their builder told them a building consent from Whanganui District Council would be needed. He applied for it late last year, and the Wyleys had hoped to get the job done by Christmas.

However, Mr Wyley said the consent process had delayed installation of the door until early February.

What's more, they say the consent process added $422.54 in council fees, $476.20 to have plans drawn up, and $129 for three hours "time and attendance".

That took the total cost to almost $9000 and the couple were further enraged when they received a three-page survey from the Whanganui council after the job was done, asking how satisfied they were with the work of council building control staff.

Those completing the survey go into a monthly draw to win a $30 Mitre 10 Mega voucher.

Mr Wyley called the whole process "unnecessary bureaucratic crap".

"Everything has to be dragged out, and everyone is getting sick of them wasting money for the hell of it," he said.

Mrs Wyley said societies could collapse under such a tonnage of bureaucracy. She wrote a letter of complaint to council chief executive Kym Fell.

"I see people, nurses and teachers, drowning under all this paperwork," she said, adding that she had spent time with volunteer organisations and that red tape and regulations now meant that jobs a volunteer used to do had to be done by a paid professional.

As neither of the Wyleys had had any contact with council staff, the survey was irrelevant to them, and Mr Wyley reckoned the council was overstaffed.

Council building control leader Greg Hoobin said the consent cost the couple $441.75 and took 9.7 working days to process. Councils are required to process consents within 20 working days, but Whanganui aims to get them done in 10. Last year it met the 20-day requirement 99.9 per cent.

"I am pleased my team delivered this consent in less than 10 working days in a month where 72 building consents were issued, covering $6.6 million worth of work," he said.
Sending out the surveys doesn't cost the council, because they are posted along with compliance certificates.

Mr Hoobin said the surveys were useful as they measured performance, acknowledged staff who did well and allowed the council to contact aggrieved parties.