Council building consent process sound says Acting CE

Kapiti Coast District Council has been praised by the Minister of Building and Construction Maurice Williamson for the way it responded to a recent audit of its building consents processes.

The audit by International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) highlighted issues to do with documentation and record keeping but IANZ was satisfied with the judgements and decisions made around building consents.

Acting Chief Executive Tamsin Evans says Kapiti residents can be assured all consents issued in this district are robust and reliable and made by competent staff with good technical knowledge.

“Local government is audited continuously and there was nothing unusual about the routine IANZ audit. Audit processes are there for quality assurance and it is not unusual to have corrective actions to address as part of that process.  The Mayor and councillors have been kept fully informed, we are meeting targets and I am very satisfied with the way things are progressing.”

“As the Minister said on TVNZ’s Q&A this morning, Kapiti has put systems in place to address the issues, as any council should.”

Ms Evans says IANZ concerns were to do with paperwork, systems and processes.

“We fell behind the initial timeframes set by IANZ to address the audit’s corrective actions.  We’re a relatively small council and we were in the process of restructuring and appointing new managers to our regulatory team, as well as moving back into our refurbished head office.  From early February, Senior staff were also dealing with the impact of Mainzeal’s receivership on the near-complete Coastlands Aquatic Centre project.”

Ms Evans says Council’s responses to the IANZ audit will be put before the Audit and Risk Subcommittee, which oversees external audit reports to ensure appropriate action, has been taken by management to address issues and audit recommendations.

“We’re pleased the Minister acknowledges how seriously Kapiti took IANZ’s concerns and the steps we have subsequently taken to ensure we retain our accreditation.”