Latest news with #SelwynDistrictCouncil
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Selwyn building consent company expected to get green light
Private company Building Consent Approvals Ltd is expected to soon start issuing building consents in the Selwyn district. Photo: Supplied Building consents in the Selwyn district will soon be able to be issued by a private company. The Selwyn Times understands an announcement will be made on Wednesday. Until now, only the Selwyn District Council has been able to issue consents in the district. It will be the first time a private company has been given the green light to issue consents in New Zealand. Christchurch company Building Consent Approvals Ltd was given a building consent authority in October, pending approval from the Ministry of Business and Innovation. It is understood the Minister for Building and Construction, Chris Penk, will be in Selwyn this week to make the announcement. District council executive director development and growth Robert Love said the company will provide choice. 'Having a private BCA in the market provides choice for customers, so can be seen as healthy competition.' So far this year, the district council has received 398 resource consents, down 8% compared to the 428 consents. In April, the average processing time for consents was 35 days. Love did not say whether the new company would mean consents were issued faster. 'The speed of consenting largely comes down to consenting volumes which fluctuate, and can be impacted by changes in legislation, which may mean processing of some areas takes longer as the Building Code becomes more complex,' he said. Leading the project is Ian McCauley who has worked in building consent departments for multiple councils. In October, McCauley told NZ Herald: 'It's been a hard slog over the last 18 months, but it's been worthwhile and paid off.' Building Consent Approvals Ltd would not comment until the announcement was made public. It is understood once the company starts issuing consents, its focus will be on lower-risk work, leaving more complex consents to the council. A report to the council's audit and risk committee noted there was a risk the new company could mean a reduction in council workload and could see council staff move to Building Consent Approvals Ltd. While any lost consents will mean a reduction in revenue, the company will still have to pay the council a filing fee for lodging a consent.
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Advocacy group makes strong bid for council seats
Another key member of a community advocacy group is making a bid for the Selwyn District Council. Lincoln Voice secretary Denise Carrick will be running for a seat in the Kā Puna Springs Ward. She is the third committee member of Lincoln Voice to announce they will stand for the district council in the October local body elections. Chair Tracey Macleod is running for one of the at-large seats and committee member Aaron McGlinchy for a Springs Ward seat. New councillors-at-large added Unlike Macleod and McGlinchy who are running as independents, Carrick will be using the Lincoln Voice banner in her campaign. 'I have the blessing of the committee and the founding members to do that,' Carrick said. Current Springs Ward councillors Malcolm Lyall and Debra Hasson are yet to decide whether they will stand again, while Grant Miller announced on Anzac Day he would not be seeking re-election. Like Macleod and McGlinchy, a key motivation for standing was Lincoln Voice's fight to stop the huge 2100-home Carter subdivision, Earlsbrook. Lincoln Voice had appealed the private plan change, which the council approved in the Environment Court. But before the case was heard, the appeal was made null and void after the subdivision was included in the District Plan, which the council controversially signed off on with only six councillors present. The remaining five and Mayor Sam Broughton were either away or not voting due to a conflict of interest. Because Lincoln Voice was never involved in the District Plan process, which started a number of years before the group was formed, it had no grounds to appeal the plan. That prompted questions and criticism from Lincoln Voice as to why the vote was not delayed until more councillors could be present for the vote. Carrick said if she was elected and a similar big decision was to happen she would want a full council to be present. 'Those sorts of big decisions need to be handled better.' Carrick said now the subdivision is under construction, she wants to focus on ensuring Lincoln has the infrastructure to cope with the extra homes. 'It is in the background, because what's done is done. 'But the repercussions of it are still becoming very evident with growth in population and the need for infrastructure.' Carrick is also on the Selwyn Community Patrol committee and works part-time as a teacher aide at Rolleston College. Macleod owns and operates NTM Consulting, while McGlinchy is a part-time consult operations manager for Eco Index. In recent years Carrick's focus has been on Lincoln, but she said she can still represent the other Springs Ward townships. This now includes West Melton. 'Each of our townships has got different issues, but we all have quite a lot in common with how quickly we've grown and the issues that brings,' she said.
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Advocacy group makes strong bid for Selwyn District Council seats
Another key member of a community advocacy group is making a bid for the Selwyn District Council. Lincoln Voice secretary Denise Carrick will be running for a seat in the Kā Puna Springs Ward. She is the third committee member of Lincoln Voice to announce they will stand for the district council in the October local body elections. Chair Tracey Macleod is running for one of the at-large seats and committee member Aaron McGlinchy for a Springs Ward seat. New councillors-at-large added Unlike Macleod and McGlinchy who are running as independents, Carrick will be using the Lincoln Voice banner in her campaign. 'I have the blessing of the committee and the founding members to do that,' Carrick said. Current Springs Ward councillors Malcolm Lyall and Debra Hasson are yet to decide whether they will stand again, while Grant Miller announced on Anzac Day he would not be seeking re-election. Like Macleod and McGlinchy, a key motivation for standing was Lincoln Voice's fight to stop the huge 2100-home Carter subdivision, Earlsbrook. Lincoln Voice had appealed the private plan change, which the council approved in the Environment Court. But before the case was heard, the appeal was made null and void after the subdivision was included in the District Plan, which the council controversially signed off on with only six councillors present. The remaining five and Mayor Sam Broughton were either away or not voting due to a conflict of interest. Because Lincoln Voice was never involved in the District Plan process, which started a number of years before the group was formed, it had no grounds to appeal the plan. That prompted questions and criticism from Lincoln Voice as to why the vote was not delayed until more councillors could be present for the vote. Carrick said if she was elected and a similar big decision was to happen she would want a full council to be present. 'Those sorts of big decisions need to be handled better.' Carrick said now the subdivision is under construction, she wants to focus on ensuring Lincoln has the infrastructure to cope with the extra homes. 'It is in the background, because what's done is done. 'But the repercussions of it are still becoming very evident with growth in population and the need for infrastructure.' Carrick is also on the Selwyn Community Patrol committee and works part-time as a teacher aide at Rolleston College. Macleod owns and operates NTM Consulting, while McGlinchy is a part-time consult operations manager for Eco Index. In recent years Carrick's focus has been on Lincoln, but she said she can still represent the other Springs Ward townships. This now includes West Melton. 'Each of our townships has got different issues, but we all have quite a lot in common with how quickly we've grown and the issues that brings,' she said.
Otago Daily Times
23-05-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Residents make impassioned plea for future of Canterbury settlement
By Keiller MacDuff of RNZ Selwyn District Council heard more impassioned pleas for the future of the Selwyn Huts settlement as residents presented their case at yet another meeting on Wednesday. District councillors took yet another vote and staff waded through archaic legislation, council archives and numerous amendments. A report was adopted, consultation will proceed with three options put to residents - whether they prefer licence terms of five years with a final, non-renewable expiry date, a single fixed term of 30 years with a final, non-renewable expiry date or rolling ten-year terms with the ability to renew, up to a maximum of 30 years total. But some residents say the question is inaccurate, and appeared to confuse some of the councillors voting on it. The first fisherman's huts at the Upper Selwyn Huts were built in 1888. Until about 1990, prospective owners had to have a current fishing licence in order to obtain a hut licence. Intended only as temporary accommodation, over the years there had been a drift from occasional to permanent use of the Huts. Hut owners were granted licences to occupy, usually on a five-year basis. Council pauses plan to remove Upper Selwyn Huts Upper Selwyn Huts is managed by the Selwyn District Council, on a reserve owned by the Crown, Springston South Reserve. According to the council, there are 96 occupancy licences, locals estimate about 150 people live at the settlement. A timeline contained in the council's report outlined many years of resolutions, legal advice and determinations, dating back to a decision in 2017 to explore refusing to renew licences or to renew them for a lesser term. A unanimous decision in 2019 determined the licences and renewals were "short term and ultimately for a finite period." Deeds of licence due to expire in 2020 were extended via letters, and in 2022, another letter extended the licence to occupy until June 2024, on the basis of encroaching climate change and modelling showing rising sea and lake levels might put the settlement at risk. Subsequent extensions were granted to allow for consultation processes with the community. In March 2024, the council voted to confirm residents would have to leave by 2039. But in July, another vote saw the council agreeing to allow for further consultation with residents. The lawyer representing some Upper Selwyn Huts residents, Clare Lenihan, presented during the public forum at Wednesday's meeting, speaking to her legal opinion that council had obligations it was failing to fulfil under the 1924 Reserves and Other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act. Several residents also presented, including Kirrily Fea of the Selwyn Huts Owners Association, the group retaining Lenihan. The council faced a vote on several aspects relating to the huts, including whether to adopt a proposal laying out further consultation with residents and the specific questions to be posed, rolling over licences for another year, and how long to grant licence holders in arrears to pay outstanding amounts. More than three hours later, an element of confusion reigned. Amendments to amendments were proposed, and for the most part lost, points of governance were challenged, and the council's legal, financial, and communications teams were frequently called on. Eventually, the vote passed on the recommendations more or less as originally proposed. But Kirrily Fea said the confusion, and hours spent rehashing old decisions and attempting to clarify new ones, is all part of the problem. Her group's position was that the question council signed off on for consultation is flawed, and conflated terms of the lease with whether the leases were renewable or finite. A bid by councillor Elizabeth Mundt to add another option, which would allow the terms of the licence to be renewed, was not passed. She said it was disappointing to feel like they were back at square one, even after 14 months of consultation and engagement, time, effort and costs. The report noted the council has spent more than a quarter of a million dollars in this financial year on formal decision-making and implementation the licence. Fea said engaging a barrister was a significant cost for the association too. "It's very expensive, and it's exhausting." The issue - and costs - became fraught after the council changed the management structure more than a decade ago, Fea said. "Pre-2011, we had a sub-committee with one councillor on it, and we didn't cost the council anything". But she said the group feels compelled to keep up the fight, because they don't believe the council is justified in making the terms of new licences finite and non-renewable. The council's own reports did not find the threat from climate change to be imminent, she said. Both reports the council commissioned last year concluded the settlement would not be affected by rising groundwater and lake levels for thirty years or even later in the century, she said. But Keith Morrison, representing another resident's group, said it was always privilege to hold a licence to occupy a reserve which had special recreational and wildlife values. "We have always recognised - based on legal opinions obtained prior to signing our first licences and over the three decades we have had regularly renewed them - and we know that it cannot be taken for granted." A change in the community began when the council allowed leaseholders to rent their properties, "which turned the reserve into a real estate business and a type of de facto social housing." "We consider the council made a mistake and request the council correct it." If not, Morrison said his group requested the council "do it properly." They wanted to see the council become the sole landlord for huts that became rentals, not licence holders, and have the council work with the Ministry of Social Development to ensure those most in need in the wider community received housing, enforced Healthy Home standards and linked rents to the income of those most in need. Morrison said the move to allow licence holders to rent their homes had created a more stratified community, left some vulnerable tenants in substandard housing, and others to overcapitalise. He said council needed to help licence holders and tenants on how to prepare for when the settlement is "eventually, inevitably closed down due to the effects of climate change" and accused some in the community of having a "sense of entitlement" as they arguing against contributing to infrastructure such as a new waste water scheme. Councillor Lydia Gliddens told the meeting she failed to see why the terms had to be finite, and was "not convinced on the why" of the managed retreat. Consultation will begin next month by mail, with drop-in submissions to follow, and hearings planned for August. A final decision is due in September.
Scoop
22-05-2025
- General
- Scoop
Selwyn Huts Residents Make Impassioned Plea For Future Of Settlement
Selwyn District Council heard more impassioned pleas for the future of the Selwyn Huts settlement, as residents presented to yet another meeting on Wednesday, councillors took yet another vote and staff waded through archaic legislation, council archives and numerous amendments. A report was adopted, consultation will proceed with three options put to residents - whether they prefer licence terms of five years with a final, non-renewable expiry date, a single fixed term of 30 years with a final, non-renewable expiry date or rolling ten-year terms with the ability to renew, up to a maximum of 30 years total. But some residents say the question is inaccurate, and appeared to confuse some of the councillors voting on it. The first fisherman's huts at the Upper Selwyn Huts were built in 1888. Until about 1990, prospective owners had to have a current fishing licence in order to obtain a hut licence. Intended only as temporary accommodation, over the years there had been a drift from occasional to permanent use of the Huts. Hut owners were granted licences to occupy, usually on a five-year basis. Upper Selwyn Huts is managed by the Selwyn District Council, on a reserve owned by the crown, Springston South Reserve. According to the council, there are 96 occupancy licences, locals estimate around 150 people lived at the settlement. A timeline contained in the council's report outlined many years of resolutions, legal advice and determinations, dating back to a decision in 2017 to explore refusing to renew licences or to renew them for a lesser term. A unanimous decision in 2019 determined the licences and renewals were "short term and ultimately for a finite period." Deeds of licence due to expire in 2020 were extended via letters, and in 2022, another letter extended the licence to occupy until June 2024, on the basis of encroaching climate change and modelling showing rising sea and lake levels might put the settlement at risk. Subsequent extensions were granted to allow for consultation processes with the community. In March 2024, the council voted to confirm residents would have to leave by 2039. But in July, another vote saw the council agreeing to pause the process to allow for further consultation with residents. The lawyer representing some Upper Selwyn Huts residents, Clare Lenihan, presented during the public forum at Wednesday's meeting, speaking to her legal opinion that council had obligations it was failing to fulfil under the 1924 Reserves and Other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act. Several residents also presented, including Kirrily Fea of the Selwyn Huts Owners Association, the group retaining Lenihan. The council faced a vote on several aspects relating to the huts, including whether to adopt a proposal laying out further consultation with residents and the specific questions to be posed, rolling over licences for another year, and how long to grant licence holders in arrears to pay outstanding amounts. More than three hours later, an element of confusion reigned. Amendments to amendments were proposed, and for the most part lost, points of governance were challenged, and the council's legal, financial, and communications teams were frequently called on. Eventually, the vote passed on the recommendations more or less as originally proposed. But Kirrily Fea said the confusion, and hours spent rehashing old decisions and attempting to clarify new ones, is all part of the problem. Her group's position was that the question council signed off on for consultation is flawed, and conflated terms of the lease with whether the leases were renewable or finite. A bid by councillor Elizabeth Mundt to add another option, that would allow the terms of the licence to be renewed, was not passed. She said it was disappointing to feel like they were back at square one, even after 14 months of consultation and engagement, time, effort and costs. The report noted the council has spent more than quarter of a million dollars in this financial year on formal decision-making and implementation the licence. Fea said engaging a barrister was a significant cost for the association too. "It's very expensive, and it's exhausting." The issue - and costs - became fraught after the council changed the management structure more than a decade ago, Fea said. "Pre-2011, we had a sub-committee with one councillor on it, and we didn't cost the council anything". But she said the group feels compelled to keep up the fight, because they don't believe the council is justified in making the terms of new licences finite and non-renewable. The council's own reports did not find the threat from climate change to be imminent, she said. Both reports the council commissioned last year concluded the settlement would not be affected by rising groundwater and lake levels for thirty years or even later in the century, she said. But Keith Morrison, representing another resident's group, said it was always privilege to hold a licence to occupy a reserve which had special recreational and wildlife values. "We have always recognised - based on legal opinions obtained prior to signing our first licences and over the three decades we have had regularly renewed them - and we know that it cannot be taken for granted." A change in the community began when the council allowed lease holders to rent their properties, "which turned the reserve into a real estate business and a type of de facto social housing." "We consider the council made a mistake and request the council correct it." If not, Morrison said his group requested the council "do it properly." They wanted to see the council become the sole landlord for huts that became rentals, not licence holders, and have the council work with the Ministry of Social Development to ensure those most in need in the wider community received housing, enforced Healthy Home standards and linked rents to the income of those most in need. Morrison said the move to allow licence holders to rent their homes had created a more stratified community, left some vulnerable tenants in substandard housing, and others to overcapitalise. He said council needed to help licence holders and tenants on how to prepare for when the settlement is "eventually, inevitably closed down due to the effects of climate change" and accused some in the community of having a "sense of entitlement" as they arguing against contributing to infrastructure such as a new waste water scheme. Councillor Lydia Gliddens told the meeting she failed to see why the terms had to be finite, and was "not convinced on the why" of the managed retreat. Consultation will begin next month by mail, with drop in submissions to follow, and hearings planned for August. A final decision is due in September.
