Planning, consenting and compliance

As part of this level of this Level of Service we will:

• 34.1: Progress a review of the Canterbury Regional Policy Statement
• 34.2: Work collaboratively with the region’s district and city councils to implement and give effect to the Regional Policy Statement

How are we doing: We are working in partnership to notify a revised Regional Policy Statement (RPS) by the end of 2024 and work is underway on preparing a draft RPS and Section 32 Report.

Reviewing the Regional Policy Statement is part of developing an integrated planning framework. During quarter two, we held a second round of public and stakeholder engagement (the Pick a Path campaign), and we are continuing to work together with Papatipu Rūnanga on policy options. This will inform the ongoing work on the Regional Policy Statement and the integrated planning framework. 

Each year our planners work with the region's district councils to provide planning support on issues of regional significance, such as district plan reviews, private plan change requests, district development strategies, bylaws, and regionally significant notified resource consent applications. The majority of the work is responsive to the work programmes of the district councils but some is led (or jointly led) by us, particularly in relation to the Greater Christchurch Partnership.

There are four targets for this Level of Service:

35.1: Process resource consent applications in a timely manner.

How are we doing: Timeframe compliance to the end of quarter two was 16 per cent and we do not expect to meet this target for 2023/24. We are implementing a Sustainable Consents Delivery Plan, including the realignment of our consents team and the appointment of additional consents planners. We are focusing on addressing a build-up of applications, after which we anticipate that the percentage timeframe compliance will improve.

35.2: Assess a sample of consent applications to determine that Environment Canterbury is fully compliant with the requirements of the RMA.

How are we doing: The assessment will be carried out in the second half of 2023/24.

35.3: Monitor priority consents, as identified in the Compliance Five-year Plan, to ensure compliance with consent conditions.

How are we doing: To the end of quarter two, we have monitored 32.3 per cent of 792 high-priority consents, tracking behind where we expected to be (we anticipated having monitored at least 40 per cent by the end of quarter two). High staff turnover, and training requirements for newly recruited staff, have contributed to this. As staff complete training, we expect the number of consents being monitored, including high-priority consents, to increase.

35.4: Respond to 80 per cent of elevated (high-priority) pollution events within two days.

How are we doing: We provide an incident response service to ensure the effects of pollution incidents are kept to a minimum. We are on track to meet the target of 80 per cent, with 81.3 per cent of elevated pollution responded to within two days.

How are we doing: Work is underway to enhance and improve our regulatory processes and procedures to improve delivery of the regulatory lifecycle.

Additional resourcing was approved by Council in October 2023 to enable a further increase in staffing. By the end of quarter two, 22 additional staff had been recruited.

Implementation of the Sustainable Consents Delivery Plan continued, including improving alignment within the consents team to achieve greater efficiency and productivity and cross-organisational support for delivery of this function.  

In December 2023, our ratio of consents processed and decided to applications received was well above one, meaning that we are making progress on reducing the build-up of consent applications by processing more applications than we are receiving. We expect to see the build-up cleared and consent processing within statutory timeframes from December 2024. 

Find more information about consenting.

How are we doing: A staff appointment has been made to lead the development of initiatives to improve the delivery of our compliance monitoring and enforcement function.

We publish annual snapshots of consent monitoring activity and our response to environmental pollution incidents. If you are aware of an environmental incident that seems time critical, please call our incident line on 0800 765 588 (24 hours) or report it using the Snap Send Solve app from your mobile phone.