The Consents Section at Environment Canterbury have been working particularly hard over the past six months to improve both quality and quantity of applications processed. The last financial year ended with an average timeframe compliance of 29%. This was not good enough and we have thoroughly reviewed all our systems and processes. Already, we are seeing some success: in the past 11 months, our monthly timeframe compliance has exceeded 67%, and this continues to climb.

Our in-house initiatives have included developments of improved and restructured processes, and better process management tools. With an external focus, further initiatives include the creation of booklets to enable streamlining of applications, improved information available to both community and consultants, standardising some of our conditions, developing more stringent screening of applications, increasing the transparency of our process to applicants, and improving the management of applications on hold.

We have identified our communications as a further area of development, and we are pleased to present our first edition of "The Hub". The focus of this E-Newsletter is to provide updates on developments and areas of interest within consents, and highlight future developments anticipated over the following months.

This E-Newsletter provides an opportunity for you to feedback on the content and enable us to improve our services further, and to ask questions or obtain guidance. We look forward to hearing your comments!

News

Application Booklets and Guidebooks

The Consents Section have launched a number of application booklets, designed specifically to improve the quality of applications received and enabling the Section to streamline applications received using these forms.

The Dairy Effluent booklet – "When the Cows Come Home" - was the first release in 2008, and proved successful by substantially reducing the time taken to process applications. The booklet has subsequently been followed by storm water discharge "Calm Before the Storm Vol I & II" and waste water systems "Flush But Don’t Forget" and "Flushed With Success".

The use of these booklets and forms will streamline the processing (with a reduction in costs). Consultants who wish to submit applications on their headed paper may still continue to do so, but need to ensure that the information provided is in the same format, if they want to take advantage of the streamlined processing.

thumbnail of Calm Before the Storm - Land booklet.

thumbnail of Calm Before the Storm - Water booklet.

Future Developments...

Our application booklets will continue to be reviewed and developed; the option of including tick boxes for standard conditions will be included which will enable the process to be streamlined further.

Keeping Consent Holder information Current

Often a resource consent is applied for by a consultant on behalf of a client and the consultant's address is given as the address for service. However, once a consent has been granted, we need to be informed in writing of the consent holder's ongoing contact details if they are different from the application details. This will help us to ensure any monitoring correspondence is sent to the correct person.

Newsletter Feedback

We welcome your feedback on this newsletter and its contents. Please use this link to send your feedback to us.

Questions or Guidance

If you have any questions or need any guidance, please use this link to contact us.

External Links to Documents

The Resource Consent search facility has been substantially enhanced to enable external users to direct electronic access to certain documentation. The facility allows users to request documents which are then sent out in PDF format. Please note that this facility is only available for documents created after 2004. To access this tool, please use this link.

Future Developments...

Following further development, we anticipate the tool will be used as a quick way to provide documentation to interested parties when a final decision is released on a resource consent application. While the resource consent documentation itself will be sent in hard-copy to the consent holder, consultants will receive an email enabling them to instantly view the documentation.

Resource Consent Information Booklets

Four information booklets have been generated to provide guidance on resource consents from application through to expiry, and will be available for use in mid-July 2009.

The "How to Apply" booklet will be available from Customer Services and provide general guidance on what to include in an application, and the process an application goes through once submitted.

Two booklets will accompany the resource consent document in a wallet designed to keep all related information together for the duration of the consent. The "Monitoring" booklet provides guidance on the monitoring process and requirements. "Your Resource Consent" provides further assistance in understanding the resource consent document itself, and indicates when Environment Canterbury should be notified of changes.

The final booklet – "Notification Process" – will be sent out to applicants who have their application notified.

New Fixed Charges

Please note that our standard fixed charges change on the 1st of July 2009. For information on the new charges, see the charges webpage, or PDF file. download a PDF File-size. 79kB.

Next E-Newsletter

The issue of The Hub will be published on 1st September 2009.

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