Nick Smith,
Rodney Hide16 November, 2009 - Environment
Minister Nick Smith and Local Government
Minister Rodney Hide today announced the
members of the review team that will investigate
Environment Canterbury's poor performance.
"Last month we
announced that the Government was not satisfied
with Environment Canterbury's performance
and that an external review was necessary
to fix the Council's problems," Dr
Smith and Mr Hide said.
"The areas of concern
are the processing of resource consents
on time, developing a proper framework for
managing Canterbury's natural resources,
and the management of relationships with
Canterbury's territorial local authorities.
"The first component
of the review is under Section 24A of the
Resource Management Act, looking into Environment
Canterbury's resource management functions.
The second is a non-statutory assessment
of Environment Canterbury's governance and
policy functions under the Local Government
Act."
Dr Smith said former
Deputy Prime Minister Wyatt Creech would
oversee the RMA investigation working with
Doug Martin of MartinJenkins and Associates
and independent consultant Greg Hill.
Mr Hide said the review
of Environment Canterbury's governance,
policy functions and relationships with
other councils would be done by civil engineer
Doug Lowe and economist Alison Dalziel.
Both reviews start at
Environment Canterbury today and are due
to be completed by Friday 4 December. The
report is due with the Ministers in January
2010.
"These appointments
and the review timetable have been discussed
with Environment Canterbury," the Ministers
said.
Biographies of review
team
Wyatt Creech (independent
consultant)
Rt Hon Wyatt Creech
is an experienced business man, with knowledge
in farming, wine production, and accounting.
He was elected to parliament in 1988. He
held office for 15 years representing the
Wairarapa and in that time held many senior
portfolios for the National Government including
Leader of the House and Deputy Prime Minister.
Wyatt was a member of the Resource Management
Act Technical Advisory Group, is on the
Board of Directors of the Open Country Cheese
Company and is chairman of the Board of
the Kaimai Cheese Company Ltd.
Doug Martin
Director, MartinJenkins
and Associates. Doug was appointed by the
State Services Commission to be one of three
Lead Assessors for the purpose of piloting
the new Performance Improvement Framework
that will be applied to State Sector Agencies.
Doug was appointed because of his experience
and credibility. Doug also conducted a culture
review of Auckland City Council for the
Mayor, Hon John Banks, and more recently
conducted a value for money review of the
Department of Corrections. He will be working
with his associate Nigel Bradly.
Greg Hill
Greg is a RMA consultant.
He has approximately 25 years experience
and is also an independent commissioner.
He has been employed by Territorial Authorities,
Regional Councils and Central Government.
Greg was the General Manager of Policy and
Planning at Auckland Regional Council.
Doug Low
Doug is a founding director
of Morrison Low and a civil engineer with
significant experience in managing major
infrastructure and development projects,
procurement in a government/local government
setting, strategic and general management
and organisational change. He has held senior
management positions in large public bodies
and has a track record of getting results
using practical solutions while retaining
a strategic view.
Alison Dalziel
Alison is an economist
with more than 20 years of experience in
central and local government. Her background
includes policy and strategy, finance, corporate
planning, economic development, urban development,
and sector and regional development. Alison
has worked in several central government
departments and metropolitan councils in
a variety of senior management roles.
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Far North District Council
review team announced
Nick Smith20 November,
2009
The investigation into Far North District
Council's performance in processing applications
for resource consents will start on Monday
23 November, Environment Minister Dr Nick
Smith announced today.
Dr Smith said independent
consultants Mark St Clair and Brent Cowie
will carry out the review by 4 December
and report back to him in January.
"I announced this
investigation as a result of the Far North
District Council's poor performance in processing
just 37% of resource consents within the
statutory timeframes - a decline from 51%
in the previous survey in 2005/06,"
he said.
"I acknowledge
the council has taken some steps over the
last year to improve its performance in
this area. However, I believe an external
review is necessary to identify the issues
and to assist the council to fix their consent
processing problems.
"The primary focus
of the review is to examine guidance around
applications, monitoring systems, customer
feedback, staffing resources and processing
systems. It is limited in scope to resource
management functions, unlike the wider investigation
into Environment Canterbury.
"The prosperity
of the Far North district is highly dependent
on the efficient management of its natural
resources. This review is about improving
the council's RMA function to deliver decisions
on time for the people and businesses in
the Far North.
"These appointments
and the review timetable have been discussed
with Far North District Council. Any final
recommendations on ways to improve council
performance will be reported to the council
following the report back to me," Dr
Smith said.
