Consultant costs rise at Environment Southland
Environment Southland spent more than $700,000 on consultants and contractors to process resource consents in the past year.
Increased regulations around dairy grazing and freshwater, and renewal of dairy conversion consents has lead to an increase in costs, as the consent department’s workload has increased.
Total costs obtained under the Official Information Act showed the council spent $723,479 on consultants and contractors in the consents division in the 2019/20 year.
In the 2015/16 year, the council spent $280,535, in 2016/17 it spent $327,046 and in 2017/18 it spent $311,767.
However, in 2018/19, costs almost doubled to $710,686.
Council general manager policy, planning and regulatory services Vin Smith said there were several factors behind the increase in costs during recent years.
From 2017, there was an increase of dairy replacement applications, which corresponded with 10-year-term consents granted during the dairy boom, expiring.
The regulatory framework changed with the introduction of the notified version of the proposed Southland Water and Land plan in 2016, and then again with the decisions version in 2018.
The new plan introduced new restrictions around certain activities in Southland, boosting the number and complexity of consent applications made between 2017 to 2019, which required additional resources to process.
Staff vacancies and an increase in publicly notified consent applications also influenced an increased reliance on consultant use for the consents team.
Applications for resource consents were cost recoverable, which meant the cost of processing an application lay with the applicant.
Smith told Stuff in January that the council was currently reviewing its consents resourcing needs as part of the Long Term Plan process, and would consider the likely implications on staff resourcing from these areas to ensure that it continued to provide a timely and professional service to the community.