May - July 2015
Kia ora
Far from being a dull and dreary winter, there has been heaps going on over the winter months in the Strategy and Environment Group.
a) The Building Control Authority was re-accredited by IANZ, the alternative was unthinkable!
b) The Nelson Plan review is gathering momentum and we encourage your feedback and involvement.
c) The number of resource consents have increased so development is picking up; and
d) Nelson Nature, The Council’s strengthened biodiversity programme has commenced.
Do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss any of the items in the newsletter or how we could improve the content.
Mauri ora
Clare Barton
Group Manager Strategy and Environment
Building
Contact details:
Manager Building: martin.brown@ncc.govt.nz ph 5460302
What’s new from the Nelson Building Consent Authority (BCA)
Extension of lodgement meetings pilot project for Residential Building Consent applications
In the last SHARE newsletter we spoke about the residential building consent lodgement pilot project for selected residential building companies and agents. This project aims to try and improve the quality of information and avoid further requests for information.
As only low numbers were received during the pilot, we are proposing to extend this to all fixed fee residential building consent applications (excludes simple pre paid consents) submitted from 1 November 2015 for three months.
Every residential consent application will require a meeting with a building officer before the application is received. If the application is not complete then the customers and agents will have to get the information together and re submit so that when it is received it is complete and the process is streamlined.
If the application is accepted at the meeting that is day one of the 20 working day time limit rather than having to wait as you currently do.
This new lodgement process aims to provide greater certainty for customers. Please feel free to pass any feedback to martin.brown@ncc.govt.nz on this.
IANZ has recommended reaccreditation for the Building Consent Authority
The BCA is pleased to announce that the IANZ recommendation for re-accreditation was successfully received in June. The audit raised no corrective actions. Ten recommendations will be worked on to further improve our services to customers. IANZ commented that the BCA had done an ‘outstanding job’ of developing and raising the standard since the last Audit in 2013.
Process for Code Compliance Certificate application has been changed.
Council aims to improve customer satisfaction wherever possible and therefore, following feedback, the Building Consent Authority (BCA) will:
- Revert to providing a hard copy Application for Code Compliance Certificate (Application for CCC) with the Issued Building Consent documentation.
- Receive the Application for CCC when you deem the Building work to be complete.
If you require a copy of your Application for CCC for a current Building Consent, please request this via email to: building@ncc.govt.nz or phone the Building Inspections booking line: 03 546 0334 anytime. Please provide your current email address.
Updates…
Whole year statistics for building consent and amendment applications received
Projection for last financial year
What’s to come
Fees and Charges for the Building Unit; new fees and charges effective 1 October 2015
1 July 2014 fixed fees and charges were set based on value of work. Following customer feedback some small changes will be made to make the fees easier to find and follow for the different work streams of the Building Unit. The intention is to make the fees clearer and easier to navigate by customers.
Better Public Information on the Website
The current internet pages have been developed over several years and are due for a tidy up. The aim over the next 6 months is to get better clarity around how the BCA works and what is required of customers and what can be expected from the Building Unit.
Building Warrant of Fitness Audits
The next move is to commence Building Warrant of Fitness Audits in key areas.
The requirements of the Building Act 2004 mean that any property with a specified system (generally Commercial) must have a Warrant of Fitness (within one year of completion).
Consents over four years old without Code Compliance Certificates
There are about 250 properties of which the owners have not applied for or achieved Code Compliance Certificates since 2006 and no S93 decision has been made. Under the Building Act 2004 owners are required to apply for a certificate as soon as works are complete. In many situations this does not happen and technically is in breach of the Building Act 2004. This is going to be an area which the BCA will be targeting over the next two years to try and clear this backlog.
Planning
Contact details:
Manager Consents and Compliance: mandy.bishop@ncc.govt.nz ph 5458740
Manager Planning: matt.heale@ncc.govt.nz ph 5395506
What’s new
Recent development in Nelson
A building at 105 Bridge Street is to be demolished, which used to contain a second hand bookstore.
The Nelson Tasman Cycle Trails Trust obtained consent to erect information signage along the Great Taste Cycle Trail.
The Nelson School of Music has lodged an application to strengthen and redevelop the category A heritage building.
A protected tree (Common Yew) in Albion Square was removed due to its very poor condition.
Planners can visit you too
Our friendly team of planners are more than happy to visit your office if that is easier to discuss the pre-application planning matters for any project or to go over questions you may have about the Nelson Resource Management Plan rules. Click here (227KB PDF) for an introduction to the resource consents team and their contact details.
Updates
RMA amendments
A reminder that recent amendments to the Resource Management Act mean more information is needed to apply for resource consent. Should the application not contain all relevant information we must return the application as incomplete. The applicant will then need to submit a whole new application as if they had never applied before. We really urge you to come and talk to us before you lodge an application so we can work with you on what information is needed.
Consent stats
For the first time our annual compliance with the non-notified processing timeframe for consents will average 100%. Only one consent out of 378 went over 20 days for the year and we averaged just 12 days to process all consents. This is a huge improvement from eight years ago when there was 45% compliance and an average of 30 days to process the consents.
A great team effort is behind the improvement – read the full story.
The Nelson Plan
The Nelson Plan (the review of the Nelson Resource Management Plan, Regional Policy Statement and Air Quality Plan) is currently in the early engagement phase with a range of meetings being held with iwi partners and key stakeholders.
- The joint TDC/NCC review of the Land Development Manual has progressed with an inter-Council steering group being established to guide the review.
- A number of Council workshops have been held.
- A survey has started seeking feedback from potential earthquake prone building landowners on development issues in the central city.
- Officers are in the process of establishing Freshwater Advisory Groups across catchments in the north and south of Nelson and a Developers Advisory Group to inform city development.
The focus for the Nelson Plan during this stage has been on identifying Nelson’s significant resource management issues and strategic outcomes to guide the development and engagement of the Nelson Plan - the why and the what. Key stakeholder engagement including iwi has focussed on growth, hazards, freshwater, heritage landscape, air, and biodiversity.
Looking ahead to next year, the Nelson Plan focus will be on the ‘how’ – objectives, policies, and methods and completing key stakeholder and wider community engagement.
Overall the priority will be to produce the draft air quality rule changes by December 2015 with a target notification date of March 2016 for those provisions.
River Users survey
A river users survey was carried out for the Maitai and Roding catchments, with some interesting results. See the full survey including a summary here:
http://nelson.govt.nz/environment/water-3/projectmaitai/roding-and-maitai-rivers-user-survey/
Woodburner Community meeting
Nelson City Council is working closely with the community to find out how we can provide more choice on home heating options while still meeting the national standards for air quality.
Over 80 people attended a second community meeting on this review of the Nelson Air Quality Plan, which was held at the Trafalgar Pavilion on Thursday 30 July. The meeting provided a general update, summarised feedback so far, and discussed the various options that the review will cover.
If you would like to be invited to future community meetings on Nelson’s Air Quality Plan review, please contact Jane Loughnan jane.loughnan@ncc.govt.nz
Learn how to burn smoke free
This video on Council’s website shows people how to set and build a brightly burning fire that will help reduce smokey chimneys.
http://nelson.govt.nz/environment/air-quality/home-heating-tips/learn-how-to-burn-smoke-free
Nelson Housing Accord
The Nelson Housing Accord has been signed by the Minister of Building and Housing and Nelson City Council, which aims to address housing supply and affordability issues in the district. It does this through using the Special Housing Areas and providing consenting targets for Council. Council has not yet identified any special housing areas. For further information, please follow this link.
Plan Change 18 Operative
Council has resolved to make Plan Change 18 (Nelson South) operative from 17 August 2015. This plan change rezones the area to the north west of Champion Road from Rural to Residential and Rural – Higher Density Small Holdings. It also applies a services overlay to the Residential and Rural – Higher Density Small Holdings areas and an Esplanade Reserve to the western arm of Saxton Creek. For more, click here
National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is consulting on a Draft National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry (NES-PF). Submissions close on 11 August 2015. We encourage you to go to the MPI website as the standards (if enacted) would mean a national set of rules for plantation forestry.
Council has decided to make a submission on this draft National Environmental Standard. To see Council’s submission, please click here.
Environmental Programmes
Contact details:
Manager Environmental Programmes: dean.evans@ncc.govt.nz, ph 546 0339
What’s new
Nelson Nature
Nelson Nature is a $6 million 10-year project which aims to protect and restore Nelson’s biodiversity. The project was officially launched on 23 July at the Suter Gallery, which aptly had an exhibition called Wood from the Trees on display
The monitoring programme has been confirmed and a suite of monitoring plots will be established and measured over the coming months to gain baseline data for measuring the project’s future success. Expressions of interest were called from consultants interested in undertaking and ten expressions of interest were received.
Expressions of interest are also currently being advertised to put together a register of contractors from which quotes can be invited for the delivery of the work programme. Details for this are on the Council website using the search words ‘environmental works’ and expressions of interest will close 20 August 2015.
Other work includes schools, the community and private landowners involved in riparian and native bush planting projects – mostly on private land.
The second year of the campaign to eradicate Taiwan Cherry from the Nelson region is starting this month.
Project Maitai/Mahitahi
New projects planned for this financial year include water quality investigations in York Stream and Saltwater Creek, development of a wetland at the base of Groom Creek, development of a Cyanobacteria (toxic algae) action plan, and projects to reduce litter and enhance aquatic habitat in Saltwater Creek and York Stream.
The riverside planting, E. coli source identification, Maitai Reservoir operations, and fish passage projects from last year will continue into this year. Work on the water quality in the Maitai/Mahitahi catchment is scheduled to continue until the 2017/18 year.
Updates
Project Maitai/Mahitahi
Year one of Project Maitai/Mahitahi has been completed with some great progress made. Key achievements to date are:
Community Projects
Six community group projects in and around the Maitai included planting, monitoring, research and beautification projects. Altogether the community groups contributed over $50,000 worth of time, expertise and donated goods to these projects.
Planting Days
Major riverside planting events were held at the Golf Course, Maitai Camp and Shakespeare Walk, with a total of 6500 plants put into the ground. Additional school plantings were done beside York and Emano Streams, and two large Friends of the Maitai planting days were held at Groom Creek, along with mulching and post-planting maintenance sessions.
Improving Urban Impacts
The Maitai and its tributaries run through densely populated areas so there have been several initiatives to reduce urban impacts on water quality,
- Three large wastewater leaks into the river via the stormwater system were located and fixed, and rising mains that cross under the river were dye tested to check there are no leaks.
- A rubbish clean up in Saltwater Creek was carried out by the Rotary Club of Whakatu and Nelmac, with further work planned in this area.
- A chain, bollards and signage were installed at Almond Tree Flats ford to prevent inappropriate use of the ford (for example, car washing).
Making life better for fish
A small channel was built in the river bank at Shakespeare Walk Reserve to increase the available space for inanga (whitebait) to lay their eggs, and fish passages were installed so that native fish can move freely up and down stream to complete their life cycle.
Other initiatives
A variety of other work has also been completed including; fencing stock out of waterways, changes to Maitai reservoir operations to improve water quality, research into gravel movement throughout the catchment and a study of river flows.
Enviroschools
10 Year Celebration
On 22 June, Nelson City Council celebrated 10 years of Enviroschools in Nelson. An evening of celebration took place at Auckland Point School, Nelson’s newest Enviroschool attended by Nelson MP Hon Dr Nick Smith, Mayor Rachel Reese, Heidi Mardon Chief Executive of Enviroschools, Principals and teachers. As part of the evening, Enviroschools were gifted a book especially made for the event, telling an Ngati Kuia story ‘Kei hea nga Tamure? Where are all the snapper?’ kindly shared and read by Kim Hippolite.
Silver Awards
Nelson South and Nayland Kindergartens successfully completed their silver reflections and will be presented with their awards this month. The Silver Award is achieved by those Enviroschools that are able to demonstrate an increasing range and depth of learning and action around sustainability and can show development of wider connections with their local community.
Love Food Hate Waste
Roots-to-stalk and Nose-to-Tail cooking
The Nelson Love Food Hate Waste campaign is being supported by local Street Kitchen chef Michael McMeeken, who is passionate about reducing food waste. He is featuring in a series of video clips on using every part of a food item, known as roots-to-stalk and nose-to-tail cooking. In the videos Michael ensures nothing goes to waste in the kitchen by making creamy sauce from cauliflower stalks, soup from a chicken carcass and much more.
You can find the clips on the Nelson City Council website at www.nelson.govt.nz/environment/sustainability/love-food-hate-waste/
The Love Food Hate Waste campaign is funded locally by Nelson City and Tasman District Councils, and developed by Nelson Environment Centre.
State of Environment Annual Reporting
The State of Environment annual monitoring summaries are available in colour A4 copies from the Customer Service Centre and Libraries or can be downloaded as electronic PDFs. The Annual Monitoring Summaries include:
Photo caption: front page of Recreational Bathing Water Quality 2014_15 summary
The Land, Air, Water, Aotearoa (LAWA) website, http://www.lawa.org.nz now reports the Council’s water quality and water use data for each Water Management Zone within the region. Regional reporting on air quality is the next module due to be launched on LAWA.
Fish Biodiversity
The distribution of Nelson’s native fish distribution and spawning areas have been reviewed and can be viewed on the Council's web page. This information has also supported the assessment of Sites of Aquatic Significance for the Nelson Plan review.
Fish habitat enhancement
Tributaries of the Maitai River, including York Stream, Little Go Stream and the creek in Pipers Park Reserve (upper Emano Street) have been a focus for fish passage and stream habitat enhancement. Banded kokopu are found in all of these urban streams that are linked to the sea by stormwater pipes.
Photo caption: Fish passage and habitat enhancement utilising ponga logs at Pipers Park Reserve.
What’s to come
Second Hand Sunday – Sunday 13 September
The next Second Hand Sunday event will take place on Sunday 13 September from 10am. This is a practical way for people to sort through items they don’t want anymore and give them away to people who do want them – one person’s trash is another person’s treasure! To take part simply register your address on the Council website. Registrations will open on Monday 17 August at 9am and will close at 9am on Thursday 10 September.
