Christchurch City loses consenting accreditation
Staff and the mayor Bob Parker are preparing media statements to explain the situation.
Christchurch City Council is waiting to hear from the government after this morning losing its consenting accreditation.
Staff and the mayor Bob Parker are preparing media statements to explain the situation.
The move is another blow to the governance of the city under Mr Parker and controversial chief executive Tony Marryatt.
Their position has become less tenable as a result of the move.
It follows recent warnings from Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee.
He and Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson two weeks ago installed a team of experts from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to take over the council’s consenting department and work with council officers to speed the flow of consent approvals.
The move followed a letter dated May 30 from International Accreditation New Zealand to Christchurch City Council which gave the council until June 28 to improve consenting processes or lose accreditation as a Building Consent Authority.
Mr Brownlee described it as reaching a “crisis point”.
Council staff did not tell councillors about the letter.
But Messrs Parker and Marryatt tried to downplay the problem, claiming new systems are in place and the council would comply with requirements.
The lack of rebuild momentum is evident in Christchurch, much of it the fault of EQC and slow processing of insurance claims.
Chris Hutching
Mon, 01 Jul 2013
Mon, 01 Jul 2013
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Christchurch City loses consenting accreditation
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