3 September 2024
File ref: IRC-6901
Wellington Ratepayer
[email address]
Tēnā koe
Thank you for your email of 11 August 2024, to Te Kaunihera o Pōneke / Wellington City
Council (the Council) about staff under Liam Hodgetts, Chief Planning Of icer. You have
specifically asked for:
Please provide the names and professional contact channels (email, phone
numbers) for the staff under Liam Hodgetts in planning and abatement offices.
Unless you can also provide the information in a visual tree diagram, may I suggest
you provide the information in a table, with a ReportsTo column?
With regard to the right to privacy, we do not wish to disregard it but believe that their
role as a public servant, along with their contact information being available in public
consent and abatement notices freely available via LGIOMAs or other routes, is
already public in nature.
With regard to planning and abatement officers, please provide a notes column to
provide their expertise in a specific work aspect if any (commercial, residential,
urban, rural, etc.) and/or primary city suburb/similar they may work in.
There are no teams titled Planning or Abatement under Liam Hodgetts, and the Council has
a number of teams that deal with different aspects of planning and enforcement.
Accordingly, your information request lacks the necessary due particularity, which is a
requirement for requests under section 10(2) of the LGOIMA. To progress further, we need
you to clarify the team or Council functions that your request refers to. To help you, the staff
positions that respond directly to Liam Hodgetts are listed below.
• Executive Assistant to Chief Planning Officer
• Chief Advisor to the Chief Planning Of icer
• Manager Consenting and Compliance
• Manager City Design
• Manager Housing Development
• Manager Climate Change Response
• Manager Strategic Planning
If your interest is in resource consent planning and compliance matters, you can contact this
team through the email address
[email address] or by calling 04 801 4017. For
building compliance and consenting, please use the email address
[email address] or call
04 801 4311. If your enquiry relates to the district plan or other planning documents, you
should contact
[email address], in the first instance.
With regards to staff involved in Council’s planning and enforcement functions, we do not
hold a prepared list of their areas of expertise or regions they work in. Accordingly, your
request for this information is refused under section 17(f) of the LGOIMA, as the information
requested cannot be made available without substantial collation.
The Council allocates an appropriate officer to deal with any matters that require its
attention. Members of the public are not able to influence the choice of the Council officer
who is allocated to the task. Should you need more targeted assistance to address your
concerns or situation, you may like to seek independent legal or planning advice.
You have the right, by way of complaint under section 28(1) of the LGOIMA, to request an
investigation and review of the Council’s response to your information requests above by the
Ombudsman. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
Ombudsman New
Zealand | Tari o te Kaitiaki Mana Tangata or freephone 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Susan Sales
Senior Advisor Of icial Information
Strategy and Finance
Wellington City Council | 2 of 2