City’s ‘silo culture’ blamed
Christchurch City Council managers failed to realise how bad things were in their consenting department and adopted a ‘‘business as usual’’ approach as the crisis deepened, a damning Government report says.
Prime Minister John Key’s office has also confirmed the Government was unaware the problem extended to possible faulty consents being issued.
Five experts from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) spent time at the council last month reviewing its consenting operation and their report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, makes sobering reading.
It slams senior managers for not realising the ‘‘quantum and urgency’’ of changes needed to keep consenting accreditation and a chronic ‘‘silo culture’’ in the building control authority (BCA).
Those findings are partly why councillors voted unanimously yesterday to invite Local Government Minister Chris Tremain to appoint a Crown manager to help resolve the consenting crisis.
The manager will take up his or her position on July 15 and will stay until December 2014, charged with bringing the council’s consenting operations up to the required standards so it can regain accreditation.
They will report regularly to Tremain and Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson, and help the council identify any already-issued consents that breach current building regulations.
Williamson said there would be a week between when the council lost its accreditation to issue consents and when the Crown manager took up the position but the council would be able to continue issuing consents in that period.
Prime Minister John Key said it was a ‘‘positive step’’ that a statutory manager has been appointed.
He said he still had confidence in the city council.
He could not comment on any concerns about recent builds, but it was up to the Insurance Council and city council to ‘‘draw a view on that’’.
‘‘Previous advice was that it would be OK but I’ve seen some counter comments now and I just need to leave that to them.’’
A spokeswoman for Key added that officials had advised Cabinet earlier in the week that it was mainly a timing and capacity issue, not concerns with individual consents, that were causing the council’s consenting headaches, but since then further information had come to light.
Mayor Bob Parker said the appointment of a manager was the best option for the council in light of the seriousness of the situation it was facing.
There was a ‘‘complete lack of confidence’’ in the council’s consenting processes and it was critical it moved swiftly and decisively to restore public confidence.
‘‘By bringing a Crown manager into this organisation, we take a big step to resolving these issues. There is nothing more important for us to do now than to
There is nothing more important for us to do now than to put this right. Bob Parker Christchurch Mayor
put this right,’’ Parker said.
Planning committee chairwoman Cr Sue Wells said it was important an external party scrutinised the council’s consenting processes because the community would not have faith in the outcome if the council did it itself.
‘‘You cannot identify and solve a problem using the same eyes that oversaw it,’’ Wells said.
Changes to the Local Government Act that were made last year mean the Government can intervene in specific areas of a local authority’s operations, but this is the first time the provisions of that law have been exercised.