Waimea Weekly
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Wednesday 13 August 2014
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Speeding up building consents The Tasman District Council is playing catch-up after resolving a problem with its new electronic building consent application process and is now looking at ways of making the process even faster. The council introduced an option for electronic applications in April to reduce the amount of paper work and streamline the process. However, Environment and Planning manager Dennis Bush-King says a problem with the new technology put the brakes on the system contributing to a big increase in processing times in June. Dennis says the technology issues were compounded by a staff shortage and a significant increase in consent applications. He says it was a “perfect storm in June” that resulted in a record low of 64 per cent of applications being completed within the statutory time frame of 20 working days. However, Dennis says the problem with the new technology has been resolved and pro-
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Simon Bloomberg
Senior reporter Reporter
simon@waimeaweekly.co.nz
cessing times sped up in July when 72 per cent of applications were completed on time. He expects that to improve to the “high 80s” this month and 90 per cent in September. Deputy mayor Tim King says the councillors are aware of the problem and “have made it very clear that our highest priority is to get it back on track as soon as possible”. “Most places that have introduced electronic applications have had a few teething issues but I would hope that we would have got on with it a lot quicker. The whole point of doing it was to make it quicker for people so if it’s not achieving that we need to look at it.” Tim and Dennis say council is also looking at additional ways of streamlining the process including identifying projects
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Action from the Kaka Shield at Jubilee Park on Sunday. Above is Brett Nichols enjoying a laugh. Top right is a “short line-out” won by Dave Walker. Middle right is Tapawera’s Toby Walker lining up his father Kerry, and bottom right are members of the Tapawera team before kickoff. Photos: Phillip Rollo.
Kaka Shield: Rugby, tradition and antics It’s hard not to found yourself in hysterics watching the Kaka Shield, and it appears to be the case for those playing in it too. The Kaka Shield – apparently more valuable than the Ranfurly
Shield – was once a competitive rugby game between Tui and Sherry Valley in 1923. It has been played every year
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