The bigger surplus was due to a funding boost of $1.09m more than expected from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
‘‘Over the past financial year, we’ve faced changing expectations from central Government, our mana whenua partners and our communities, as well as a changing environment, which have all added layers of complexity to our mahi,’’ chairperson Craig Pauling said.
The council has faced a backlog of consents, but staff have been working hard to get on top of them, he said.
‘‘Environment Canterbury has the highest number of resource consents of any region in Aotearoa, around 26,000.
‘‘These have built up over time due to volume, the increasing complexity of applications, changing community expectations, a degrading environment and the need to bridge the gap between new legislation, current plans, court rulings and the development of new plans.’’
Councillor Pauling said staff are on track to clear the backlog by the end of the year.
The council has also made some organisation-wide changes and is already ‘‘seeing positive results’’, he said.
During the year the council has boosted river resilience and biodiversity funding, begun work on a new Canterbury Regional Policy Statement and boosted public transport.
In the year to June 30, there were 14.5 million passenger trips on the council’s public transport, which is the highest levels since the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes.
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
