Vision Formers

A big focus of the National Government's proposed RMA reforms is getting local authorities to lift their game. But as The Building Intelligence Group's recent Yellow Treehouse project showed, Rodney District Council is one local body that's already working to cut bureaucracy and ensure the successful delivery of all manner of projects and developments.

As a member of the Government's Technical Advisory Group on RMA reform, Rodney mayor Penny Webster is hopeful that changes to the Act will herald a new era in which people's interaction with the legislation is less contentious and less cause for frustration and unwarranted delays. Meanwhile, she believes Rodney is leading the way in an environment where the current RMA process has made many councils overly risk-averse, as they try to avoid being hauled through the environment courts at great cost to the ratepayer.

The Yellow Pages treehouse restaurant and the wider opportunities it offered for the district came at a time, she says, when Rodney Council really wanted to do something as far as changing its image andshowing it has a "can do" attitude. So she and her team made a decision: on the back of a vigorous risk assessment carried out by The Building Intelligence Group, they cut the red tape that could have stalled the delivery process for the treehouse and let down the whole Yellow campaign.

"The 'vision' that The Building Intelligence Group gave to our team got us excited about whether we could do it. It was as much a challenge to us to see whether we could pull it off as it was for them," Penny says.

So Penny and her team kicked in with an approach they apply to any complex or thorny project, using a case management system that provides a single point of contact with the council.

Rodney Council regulatory resource consents manager Ian Dobson describes case management as essentially a handholding exercise that adds values for their customers and helps the applicant through the RMA process.

"It's about finding the easiest way possible and actually delivering on what the applicant wants. We've found that if you can take a collaborative approach and get the right level of information and the right dialogue, you can very quickly reduce the bureaucracy," Ian says.

Penny and Ian concede that if the treehouse was a more permanent structure, it would have had to go through a different process. But The Building Intelligence Group's robust risk assessment with regards to what would be required under the RMA meant it would ultimately have got through the same obstacles - it just would have taken considerably longer. That assessment gave the council the confidence to use their discretion as a territorial authority to cut the bureaucracy out, knowing there would be no harm to the wider environments or the general public, or breach of the RMA. "We wrapped a team around the project team so that any issues were promptly cleared up," Penny says.

"We were utterly committed to ensuring it was fast-tracked to help get it up and running on time."

Within four months of the idea being conceived, the treehouse restaurant was open to its first diners, and Rodney was reaping the benefits of its high profile. Its success has strengthened Penny's conviction that councils should be able to use their discretion when the benefits are clear.

"The treehouse is a shining example of the possibilities. In this instance we had the opportunity as a council to make it happen quickly. It's good to think that any worthwhile project could go through quickly, but there's still much to do to clear some of the impediments put on councils. The government's programme for RMA reform is an important first step."