Resource consent process

Step 5: Prepare assessment of environmental effects

All applications for resource consent must be accompanied by an assessment of environmental effects (AEE). Your council’s website, the district plan, and council staff will tell you what information you need to include.

If your project could have significant effects on the environment, you might need specialist advice to prepare the AEE. Generally, the bigger the project, the more extensive the AEE requirements will be, and the more you will benefit from professional advice.

For more information on how to prepare an AEE see the Ministry for the
Environment’s Guide to Preparing a Basic Assessment of Environmental Effects.

Step 6: Seek written approval from affected parties

Affected parties are any person or organisation that might be affected by your project. Commonly affected parties will include your immediate neighbours, but they may include people who are further away. The council will be able to advise in your case who it considers will be an affected party. The council may then ask you to seek the written approval of those parties. You are not obliged to seek their approval, but it is likely to make the processing of your application more straightforward. To enable those parties to work out whether they can support your project or not, you will need to be open and honest, provide as much information about your project as possible, listen to any concerns, and discuss how you might address them. You will need to document who you consulted with and what they said in your AEE.

 

The Ministry for the Environment’s guides Consultation for Resource Consent Applicants and Your Rights as an ‘Affected Person’ provide guidance on talking to potentially affected parties, and an insight into how you can see your project from their perspective.

Step 7: Apply for resource consent

Once you have completed your AEE and obtained any written approvals you are in a good position to apply for resource consent. Collect the application form from your council or their website.

Take your application to your council and pay your application fee. A resource consents officer will write a report and make recommendations on your application. They will decide whether to:

• reject the application as incomplete
• ask for more information
• approve the application without
• publicly notifying it
• notify the application only to potentially affected parties and invite them to make a submission (the officer will contact people or organisations that might be affected)
• publicly notify the application and call for submissions from any party
• hold a hearing at which you and submitters can put your views.

The council can reject the application and return it within 5 working days if it is incomplete. It should decide whether to notify the application within 10 working days of receiving it. If you’ve provided all the information, and the application doesn’t need to be notified, the council should make a decision within 20 working days. If the application needs to be notified, the council should be able to make a decision within 4 months.

The Ministry for the Environment’s guide Applying for a Resource Consent confirms the essential elements of the process. For information on the hearing process, in the event that your application is notified, refer to the Ministry for the Environment guides Making a Submission on a Resource Consent and Appearing at a Resource Consent Hearing.

The council will inform you whether your application has been approved or declined and provide you with a copy of its decision. If your application is approved, you should:

• understand any conditions attached to your resource consent
• note whether you (or the council) are obliged to monitor compliance with those conditions
• note whether the activity for which your resource consent has been granted has an expiry date
• check the timeframe for starting the activity. In many cases, the resource consent will lapse if work isn’t started within 5 years from the date the consent was granted.

If your application is declined, or if it is granted subject to conditions that you are unhappy with, you have a couple of options.

You can make a formal objection to the council. You will be able to attend a hearing on your objection.

You can also lodge a formal appeal with the Environment Court if you are unhappy with the council’s decision on your application and/or on your objection. The Environment Court makes an independent decision and has the same power as a District Court.

You need to make your objection or appeal in writing and within 15 working days of receiving the council’s decision. The Environment Court process is quite long, and it can take at least 6 months for a decision to be reached. The courts are based in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, but also travel to other centres.