Waikato District Council is requesting patience with legislative requests and processes (including those related to the granting of land use and subdivision consents) as the legal team deals with large numbers of requests for information and the impacts of COVID-19.
At a local government level, the legal team have an incredibly diverse and interesting practice. They are responsible for providing sound legal advice to Council staff on legal matters affecting the Council to ensure daily operations comply with statutory requirements. The legal team provide advice on regulatory matters, property matters/transactions, commercial/contract matters, bylaws, Privacy Act matters, LGOIMA requests and much more. The legal team also represent Council in Court proceedings.
“Managing workloads to meet expectations is our biggest challenge at the moment,” says acting Legal Counsel Kirsty Ridling.
“We would like to thank both our staff and external stakeholders for their patience in the interim as we work on processing the most urgent requests with stringent legislative timelines as our first priority.”
In addition to their normal workload, Waikato District Council is due to review and develop three policies and four bylaws within the next 18 months, as well as assisting and managing the 67 appeals to the Proposed District Plan. In the 2021 calendar year, the legal team also helped to process 241 Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA) requests.
