** This issue:
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1. ECAN Discharge to Land Consents
2. Overland Flow Paths in Urban areas
3. Submitting Documents
4. Inspections – changes to the approved plans
5. Council Information workshop
6. Christmas Message from the team
7. Consent Stats

** ECAN Discharge to Land Consents
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Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) are giving effect to Plan Change 7 (PC7) relating to the level of nitrates discharging to ground from residential wastewater and its effects on water quality. This has resulted in rural subdivision/developments and subsequent building consents, that do not have connections to a reticulated sewer system, requiring further considerations to the related approvals to discharge waste water to ground.

Canterbury Maps (https://mapviewer.canterburymaps.govt.nz/?webmap=bbe146672abe492780722b16a075aa73) shows the nitrate levels within the Timaru District.

ECan are encouraging all owners, developers and designers to contact them as early as possible in your development so you can better understand the requirements and then investigate the solutions or systems best suited for your location.

It is very important that you prioritise considering this issue so you can make the most informed decision possible relating to your waste water disposal design.

** Overland flow paths in urban areas
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Since the beginning of the year, we have been working on identifying overland flow paths and secondary flow paths in urban areas. Overland flow and ponding are defined as a Natural Hazard under the Building Act 2004 s71, so these need to be considered by us when processing building consents subject to these areas.

To identify the areas subject to this natural hazard you can go to the council’s Eplan https://timaru.isoplan.co.nz/eplan  search an address and choose the hazard layers from there. If your site is within this hazard (red outline with blue lines) you can contact the council’s Drainage and Water unit and they will be able to assess the extent of the hazard and provide you with a Flood Risk Assessment certificate that identifies the required mitigations.

You can then include this with your Building Consent application. This information will be assessed by the various consent teams (Planning and Building) so they candetermine compliance with the District Plan and Building Code.

Currently the service for providing the Flood Risk Assessment certificate by council is free of charge, however this may change in the future

** Submitting Documents
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You will all now be reasonably familiar with the need to submit documents and certificates through the consent portal. Normally we receive this information at the end of a project, unfortunately at the Code of Compliance Certificate stage this can be problematic for number of reasons including: the age of the consent, the number of people or companies involved and the amount and type of documentation required.

To ensure this part of the process works effectively and efficiently for everyone, please ensure you submit the required documents as soon as you get them once that part of the project has been completed. Within the consents team, we now have a person specifically dedicated to managing this part of the process. Some of you may have already received RFI’s and correspondence from buildingcccgroup@timdc.govt.nz.

So please get those documents uploaded so we can make the CCC process more robust and efficient for all of us.

** Inspections - changes to the approved plans
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The ‘Milestone’ inspection types for consents, which started on 1 July, is now reasonably embedded in practice. The main advantage of Milestones is to identify and complete all outstanding issues before continuing on with your project.

To avoid any unnecessary delays and frustrations, it’s important that you are aware of any pending or proposed changes and get these sorted either via a minor variation or amendment, before your carry out that work or have it inspected.

Please also remember that an inspection by a third party, eg engineer, can be appropriate in certain situations, however you must have any 3rd party inspections approved by the Building Consent Authority (BCA) before engaging them to do so, with all of their findings/records/photos etc, of the inspection/s are up loaded to the consent (via the portal) so the BCA can ensure compliance has been achieved.

Council Information workshop

The Council’s infrastructure team are wanting to reach out ensure the building and development sector has a good working knowledge of council requirements relating to:
* Health & Safety Obligations / Expectations
* Use of Infrastructure Approved Contractors
* Stormwater Treatment, Attenuation and Discharge Certificates
* Temporary Traffic Management and Working in the Road
* Service Consents / Occupation of Road Reserve / Engineering Design
* Application for Infrastructure Compliance Certification (ICC) and returning paperwork / As Built Requirements

To find out more, come along to a workshop to be hosted by Council’s Infrastructure Group at 9.00am on Wednesday 21 February 2024 in the Council Chambers.  The lounge will be available for refreshments prior to the start of the meeting.

Register your interest and feel free to send any specific questions about any of the above subjects to infrastructureconsents@timdc.govt.nz so we will be able to answer them for you.

** Christmas Message from the team
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Do the years seem to be go by faster and faster, or is that just me showing my age?

We have all lived yet another year of navigating challenges and making adjustments whilst we continue working. It’s almost like we are building the plane in flight and if there was a medal for how well we all cope with that the building sector would secure a prominent position on the podium.

Thank you all for your patience and perseverance of the changes that we have implemented over the past year as we continue to improve the consenting system.

On behalf of the Building Team, I wish you all a well deserved break over the Christmas/New year period and hope that you can spend as much time as you can with family and friends.

Nga mihi nui
Jayson Ellis, Building Control Manager

** Consent statistics 1st quarter for financial year 2023-2024
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Applications Received (January - March)

Applications Granted (January-March)

Inspections Undertaken (January-March)