Councils to be given time to meet standards

7 August 2007

Councils to be given more time to meet higher building consenting standards

Building and Construction Minister Clayton Cosgrove plans to give local authorities more time in which to become accredited and registered as building consent authorities (BCAs), in order to assist those few councils that are finding it a challenge to meet the government’s new building consenting standards.

Mr Cosgrove today introduced into Parliament a simple amendment to the Building Act 2004 to extend the current deadline of 30 November 2007 to 30 June 2008, using building legislation currently before the House.

“While the vast majority of local authorities are on target for meeting the original deadline, some councils – particularly small, rural authorities with capacity or capability limitations – may not complete accreditation or transfer their functions to a registered BCA on time.”

“A few councils need a bit more time to come up to speed with the new higher building consenting standards required of them. The date-change amendment gives these councils certainty and added confidence to complete the work necessary to improve the speed and quality of their building consenting, inspection and approval functions,” Mr Cosgrove said.

Mr Cosgrove said councils are making good progress and have shown a lot of commitment, with 71 of the country’s 73 territorial authorities having applied for accreditation, nine regional councils arranging to transfer their functions to a registered BCA, and the remaining three regional councils preparing to apply for accreditation. Palmerston North City Council has already gained accreditation. A $3 million government assistance package has been provided to help councils achieve accreditation.

“The good progress made by councils is particularly commendable in light of the high volume of building activity the whole country has been experiencing as a result of strong economic growth,” Mr Cosgrove said.

Mr Cosgrove said a consequential amendment to the Building Act will also allow more time for territorial authorities to transfer to regional councils the responsibility for issuing building consents for new dams built in their area.

ENDS

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