Kia ora Cody,

 

Thank you for your request for information.

 

We are handling your request under the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA). We have forwarded it to the
appropriate Christchurch City Council staff, and we will provide a
response or update within 20 working days of the date we received your
request. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will
notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

 

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me. If any additional
factors come to light which are relevant to your request, please do not
hesitate to contact me so that these can be taken into account.

 

If you have not had a reply within 10 working days, please email
[1][Christchurch City Council request email]

 

Kind regards,

 

Jess Griffin
Official Information Advisor
Te Ratonga Ture me te Manapori - Legal & Democratic Services

 

 

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Kia ora Cody,

 

On 13 August 2024, you requested the following information, under the
Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA):

 

Please advise which law that Council was referring to in this article -
https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/35036...
- that forbids staff from advising councillors about IHP matters.

"at an information session on Tuesday, councillors were reminded they
can't consider new evidence or opinions when deciding to accept or reject
the recommendations. Councillors can use only the same information the
panel had to work with, otherwise their decision would be at risk of a
judicial review.
Brent Pizzey, a city council lawyer, said even council staff were
prohibited by law to give advice."

The article in The Press was referring to the following passage in the
Resource Management Act. This is one of the sections of the RMA that
central government inserted solely for the purposes of the plan changes
needed to implement the National Policy Statement for Urban Development
and the medium density residential standards of which Plan Change 14 is
subject to:

 

Decisions on independent panel’s recommendations

101Specified territorial authority to consider recommendations

(1) The specified territorial authority—

(a) must decide whether to accept or reject each recommendation of the
independent hearings panel; and

(b) may provide an alternative recommendation for any recommendation that
the authority rejects.

(2) The specified territorial authority must refer to the Minister—

(a) each rejected recommendation, together with the authority’s reasons
for rejecting the recommendation; and

(b) any alternative recommendation that the authority has provided under
subclause (1)(b).

(3) The specified territorial authority must make decisions under
subclause (1) in a manner that is consistent with any relevant iwi
participation legislation, Mana Whakahono a Rohe, or joint management
agreement.

(4) When making decisions under subclause (1), the specified territorial
authority—

(a) is not, subject to subclause (2), required to consult any person or
consider submissions or other evidence from any person; and

(b) must not consider any submission or other evidence unless it was made
available to the independent hearings panel before the panel made the
recommendation that is the subject of the specified territorial
authority’s decision; and

(c) may seek clarification from the independent hearings panel on a
recommendation in order to assist the specified territorial authority to
make a decision under subclause (1).

(5) To avoid doubt, the specified territorial authority may accept
recommendations of the independent hearings panel that are beyond the
scope of the submissions made on the IPI.

 

You will note the highlighted sections. This notes that when the mayor and
councillors make decisions on the recommendations by the IHP they cannot
have regard to anything other than the same information that the IHP took
into account. That precludes them from any new communications from anyone,
including from Council staff. The time for people, including council
staff, to express opinions was during the IHP hearing process.

 

The IHP information that the mayor and councillors can have regard to,
fully records those views.

 

You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to investigate and review our
decision. Complaints can be sent by email to
[1][email address].

 

Publication of responses to LGOIMA requests

Please note: our LGOIMA responses may be published on the Christchurch
City Council website a month after they have been responded to, with
requesters’ personal details withheld. If you have any concerns about
this, please contact the Official Information team on
[2][Christchurch City Council request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Jess Griffin
Official Information Advisor
Te Ratonga Ture me te Manapori - Legal & Democratic Services

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

This electronic email and any files transmitted with it are intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
The views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and
may not necessarily reflect the views of the Christchurch City Council.
If you are not the correct recipient of this email please advise the
sender and delete the email.

[3]Christchurch City Council logo

References

Visible links
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2. mailto:[Christchurch City Council request email]
3. Christchurch City Council logo
https://ccc.govt.nz/