Key findings of the review
1 - Organisational and management structure
Purpose
To summarise the Council's building control organisational and management structure and to identify any issues with its efficiency and effectiveness, and consider how the Council delegates its legislative powers, duties and responsibilities.
Background
Section 232 of the Building Act 20045 covers the delegation of powers of territorial authorities. This section links to Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act 2002, which sets out local authorities' broad powers of delegation.
Initial review
At the time of the initial review (September 2004), the Council's building control unit was having some difficulty achieving a successful balance between its regulatory building control responsibilities and its internal customer service objectives. The review also identified that there was no clear delegation of some of the Council's specific regulatory building control powers and responsibilities to particular officers.
| Recommendations made to the Council |
Action taken by the Council before the follow-up review |
| Review how its regulatory building control performance measures link with wider organisational objectives (including customer service objectives) so that achieving compliance under the Building Act is not put at risk by competing objectives (eg, the need to maintain favourable customer service measures). |
The Council improved how its customer service objectives aligned with its wider organisational objectives by altering its service delivery agreements. |
| Ensure delegations have been made for all sections of the Building Act which require authorised officers to perform the respective functions, duties or powers. |
The Council updated its list of delegations. |
Follow-up review
The Council has developed a new set of delegations to reflect the requirements and responsibilities of the Building Act 2004 and has taken a number of steps to better align its customer service objectives with its wider organisational objectives, including making alterations to its service delivery agreements.
Conclusion
The Council has implemented the recommendations made by the Department under this part of the review.