Ashburton District Council are cautiously welcoming proposed Government reforms to speed up building consents.

In a bid to speed up house building, the Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk recently announced proposals to enable some professionals to self-certify low-risk work .

Council chief executive Hamish Riach said the council supported “reviews into the efficiency of the consenting system” but wanted to know more.

“But we haven’t yet seen the detail on the self-certification scheme so it’s too early for us to have formed a view.”

The changes would mean builders, plumbers, and drain-layers would no longer need to wait for inspections and resource consents from local councils by self-certifying the work themselves, something electricians can already do.

The proposal is out for consultation and the final details won’t be known until sometime next year.

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) president Sam Broughton said councils are “cautiously optimistic” that the proposed scheme will result in a more efficient building process.

“While many councils around Aotearoa will be in favour of measures to streamline the building consent process in their region, just like with any regulatory system there is a need for appropriate checks, balances, and strict quality control to be in place.

“LGNZ looks forward to engaging with the Government on the next steps of these proposed building reforms, particularly around what local government’s role will be under the new scheme.”

An area of concern for councils is the issue of long-term security over indemnity insurance.

“It’s vital that the new legislation removes any liability from councils for the works being certified - so that neither they nor affected homeowners are saddled with costs if an issue occurs,” Broughton said.

Without details about what quality control or disciplinary processes will come with any new system, Riach said “common sense would say that if councils aren’t doing the inspections or certification, they can’t be held liable for building defects or failures”.

As of October 31, Riach said the council’s average processing time was 11 working days, which is within the 20-working day statutory timeframe.

“This work occasionally needs to be outsourced, with about 13% of consents having been outsourced over the last five years.”

That is 450 out of the 3416 consents in the last five years, he said.

By Jonathan Leask