Who is an affected person?
Everyday, people ask their local council for resource consent to do something such as put up a garage, subdivide their property, build a multi-storey apartment block, or take water from a stream.
A resource consent is permission from the local council for an activity that might affect the environment, and that isn't allowed 'as of right' in the district or regional plan.
If the council considers that the effects of doing these things are more than minor, or if the council is requested to do so, it will publicly notify the application for resource consent. It will also publicly notify a resource consent application if it considers that special circumstances exist, or if the district or regional plan says it must. Being publicly notified means the council advertises the application, and people can make submissions for or against the activity, or have a neutral stance but provide additional information to help the council in its decision-making. Notification usually involves a council hearing.
If the council considers the effects of what is proposed will only be minor, or if the district or regional plan says the council need not publicly notify the application, it will generally not publicly notify the application and instead only serve notice on affected persons about the application. Only those parties who have been directly notified by council can make a submission.
An affected person is a person, or a group of people, who the council thinks will experience an effect generated by the proposed activity that will be significantly greater than or different from the effect on the general public.Who decides who is an affected person?
The council identifies who is an affected person, using its own discretion, the rules in the regional or district plans and the RMA for guidance.
To be an affected person, a person or group of people, has to be directly and adversely affected by the activity. Generally, the applicant will also identify in the application who he or she thinks is affected. However, the final decision lies with the council.
An affected person could be:
- somebody whose privacy will be reduced by a sleepout built in the neighbour's backyard
- tāngata whenua whose kaimoana could be affected by the discharge of wastewater into the estuary
- a sailing club whose use of a river mouth for regattas could be affected by the extension of a jetty
- a community group whose interests in protecting a nature reserve could be affected by the widening of a road.
