Many councils around New Zealand are experiencing increased demand for services, particularly in the building and planning space. On the one hand, this is good news. It means that we are processing more building and resource consents than ever before and shows that the region is experiencing growth that will have wider benefit in the long term.

However, this increasing demand is further pressuring our ability to provide timely services in the building and planning space as you may have seen in recent months. Like many industries, most councils are experiencing staff shortages – particularly in the planning and consenting teams, and like many other councils, we have contracted out work to private consultants in an attempt to meet demand.

Now that the country is in the COVID-19 Protection Framework red setting to help slow the spread of Omicron, the Council has put contingencies in place to ensure business continuity in the event of widespread Omicron infections in the community. We have people working from home where possible to help minimise the risk of staff meeting someone who may have COVID-19. We have also split our workforce into two teams, so that should one team go down, the other can continue to provide services to the community. The downside is that this will further exacerbate our ability to respond to demand in the planning and consenting space as it is less effective for our staff to work remotely.

We are aware that this way of working may be a requirement for months given COVID is likely to be with us for some time. We are doing our very best to provide services during this time but our response times may be further impacted beyond those imposed due to the increased demand.  If you know of anyone interested in being a planner or working in building services please encourage them to contact us.

Shayne Harris
Chief Executive - Manawatū District Council