The Southland Times

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The Southland Times put some questions to the council this week, regarding a delay in processing Invercargi­ll developer Alister Wright’s resource consent and why it was not completed within the statutory time period.

Wright has been waiting five months to find out whether he can proceed with his 12-unit residentia­l developmen­t on the corner of Conon and Crinan streets and met with the council chief executive Clare Hadley on Thursday last week to discuss the matter.

In an interview following the meeting, Wright suggested that the council was struggling to process consents, hence the delay since lodging his applicatio­n in March.

He said there had been no reason given for the delay or if there was a compliance issue. The council had asked some questions in May, which Wright believed he had provided the answers, but there had been no progress since.

It usually takes about 20 working days to process non-notified applicatio­ns but if a hearing is required, the timeframe may extend out to 50 working days or longer if more informatio­n is needed.

At his meeting with Hadley, Wright requested a hearing and was informed on Monday that a date was set for next Thursday.

When asked yesterday for an explanatio­n for the delay, a spokespers­on said the council could not comment on a resource consent that was in progress and going to a hearing.

However, in an earlier statement that day about staffing levels, council planning manager Terence Boylan said: ‘‘There is no staff shortage.

‘‘The Planning Department is adequately staffed and resource consents are being processed within statutory timeframes.’’

He said some applicatio­ns took longer to process if more informatio­n was required.

‘‘This can take time and where further informatio­n is sought, this is not included within the statutory timeframes.’’

Boylan says timeframes for resource consent applicatio­ns are monitored on a monthly basis and at the end of each financial year the data in relation to all applicatio­ns processed is sent to the Ministry for the Environmen­t, where it is audited.

There were 101 resource consents applicatio­ns granted in the period between January 1 and August 31, of which 96 were non-notified and five limited notified. All applicatio­ns granted met the required timeframes. ‘‘There are consents currently being processed, but no backlog.’’

Resource consent applicatio­ns vary in complexity depending on what the proposal is for, he said.

The District Plan sets out issues that need to be addressed as part of the resource consent process.

If the applicatio­n does not address all the required matters, then the council has the ability to return an applicatio­n so the applicant has to start the process again.

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