The boss of the Christchurch City Council has admitted staff breached delegated authority over road changes in Halswell.

As first reported by chrislynchmedia.com, Halswell Councillor Andrei Moore raised serious concerns after discovering several significant road changes in his ward were made without the required approval from elected members.

Moore said council network planning staff directed the work, which included changes to the Milns Road and William Brittan Avenue intersection, a raised speed platform on Kennedys Bush Road, and new regulatory signs, road markings, and a raised platform on Quaifes Road.

Christchurch City Council Chief Executive Mary Richardson told chrislynchmedia.com in a statement that “in some instances, staff acted outside their delegations when carrying out projects involving existing roads related to subdivision projects.”

As a result, council staff are now having to seek retrospective approval for changes already completed.

“Resource consents for approved subdivisions are issued with conditions around the requirements that must be met, including changes to roading at access points to the subdivision and the interface with the existing road network,” Richardson said.

“Council staff ensure that scheme plans for the transport infrastructure are developed in line with the consent and present these to the Community Boards, usually through briefings. Feedback from the Board is taken into account. However, there is usually limited scope for major changes due to the fixed nature of the consented subdivision.

“The current practice is to complete the entire subdivision, and after the new infrastructure is vested with the Council, present detailed traffic resolutions to the Board to allow them to exercise their delegated powers. This approach reduces delays in completing the subdivision and minimizes the costs of design changes,” Richardson said.

“Council staff are now seeking Community Board approval for all infrastructure that has been built ahead of the completion of entire subdivisions, with Milns/Kearns/William Brittan, Sabys/Quaifes, and Kennedys Bush Road being prioritised.

“Staff are preparing reports for presentation to the Community Board at an upcoming meeting, including options for the Board to review and consider.”

Earlier, Andrei Moore told chrislynchmedia.com the situation was “very unhelpful in any attempt to restore trust in local government democracy—especially with so much subdivision work still to come.”

In response, Richardson said, “I have just been made aware of Councillor Moore’s concerns. I look forward to receiving his letter and have also reminded him that he is welcome to raise concerns with me directly at any time.

“It appears that, in error, some decisions did not get approval by the Community Board before work commenced. The General Manager City Infrastructure will ensure that the correct process is followed in future.”

Regarding the resealing of Halswell Junction Road, Moore raised concerns about delays in getting information from council. He said: “Last year, it took me three months to get answers to questions that I had to submit an Official Information Act request for. When media picked up the story last month, they got a response within a day.”

Richardson said “there have been 12 queries from Councillor Moore regarding this matter through the Official Information team, with 11 being responded to within an average time of five days. The media received a response within one day, as the information already existed.

“Staff have also had an on-site meeting with Councillor Moore and the contractor. The aim of this meeting was to discuss Councillor Moore’s concerns and agree the process moving forward.

“Information was sent to the Mayor and all Councillors on 13 February and again before the works were due to start in March.

“This information addressed the complaints that have been raised by the public, what the issues were and what the proposed actions were.”

On Thursday Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger told chrislynchmedia.com he didn’t believe staff deliberately withheld information.

“It might be in the delivery of how they give it to them. Hallswell Junction Road is a unique thing. I understand the frustrations out there on what’s wrong with it.”

The Mayor said the road would finally be fixed, acknowledging it had taken strong advocacy from Moore.

He rejected suggestions that council staff had previously claimed the road was “as good as new” when it wasn’t.

Mauger also responded to council staff using data to claim success with new raised platforms at the Bridge-Marshlands intersection.

Councillor Kelly Barber had questioned staff for comparing nine years of crash data prior to the installation of the platforms against just one year of data afterwards — despite a car crashing through a fence during that time.

Mauger agreed the comparison was misleading. “You’ve got to do apples for apples. It’s nine years versus one year — that’s not accurate. If you haven’t got nine on the other side of the coin, you shouldn’t compare it.”