Hamilton's getting an anti-red-tape squad but it has taken six months to set up.

It takes red tape to cut red tape, Hamilton City Council has found.

Setting up a squad to streamline dealings with council took six months of bureaucracy - and it has yet to do anything.

So Councillor Dave Macpherson had a suggestion when the task force's framework was set at Thursday's council meeting.

"Is it possible that the task force could... look at the bureaucracy involved in setting up task forces?" he said.

READ MORE:

* Remove barriers to business, property development

* Setback for plan to slice red tape at Hamilton City Council

* Red tape review pitched at Hamilton City Council

"That's a rhetorical question with a serious point."

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/STUFF The task force should have a look at the bureaucracy needed for its own creation, Councillor Dave Macpherson said.

But chief executive Richard Briggs wanted to answer.

"I was about to say hallelujah with that comment, to be fair. I believe we've gone a bit astray with how we manage our task forces," he said.

"Not to introduce more bureaucracy - it will be done very leanly - I'm going to look at the way we structure our task forces and... make sure that the task forces are actually delivering on the intent."

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/ STUFF 'I was about to say hallelujah with that comment,' Hamilton City Council chief executive Richard Briggs said.

The red tape review - formally known as the Regulatory Effectiveness and Efficiency Project - is part of Mayor Andrew King's plan to simplify dealings with council.

The first stage of the plan is expected to cost about $770,000 and some councillors are worried it could balloon in size and cost, or prove a back-door way to review the district plan.

But Macpherson wanted council to get moving.

"It is ridiculous that this planned move to have a look at how we can reduce bureaucracy in council has taken over six months to even get to this stage, not even having darn well started."

Some of his colleagues voted down terms of reference for the task force in early May and were surprised to see them back on the agenda less than a month later.

Councillor Rob Pascoe unsuccessfully challenged the inclusion and Councillor Paula Southgate said she felt rushed and confused.

"I've been in politics for nearly 20 years," she said.

"I've never had a decision revisited so quickly without formal revocation of the previous decision."

Pascoe and Councillor Angela O'Leary quizzed Briggs on whether council could deliver the plan's first stage for the budgeted sum.

"$770,000 is what we're going to bring this in for," Briggs replied.

But Pascoe was worried that figure was "just the thin end" of the eventual cost - a concern shared by Councillors O'Leary and Siggi Henry.

He also thought the anti-red-tape squad was being pointed too strongly in the district plan direction.

O'Leary doesn't see King's plan as the right solution but was appointed to the task force to add political balance.

Councillors have to make the project work once it's voted in, she said.

The taskforce will include Mayor King, Councillor O'Leary, council chief executive Briggs, general managers Chris Allen and Kelvyn Eglinton, and three external members.

Briggs said those would be city solicitor Lachlan Muldowney, businessman and developer Tony McLauchlan, and a planner he was not yet willing to name.

Councillors voted 9-3 in favour of the task force's terms of reference.

Those against were Councillors Rob Pascoe, Leo Tooman and Angela O'Leary.