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Getting in on the Act

Introduction

The Resource Management Act: What about it? Why do we even need one?

Who looks after the environment and how?

Plans, plans, plans: what exactly are they?

What is a resource consent?

Playing by the rules

Glossary: Understanding the jargon

What is a resource consent?

You might have heard of the requirement to get a resource consent under the RMA. This means that you want to do something that your district plan doesn't allow as of right. Or, in the case of a regional plan, the plan will tell you when you need to get a resource consent.

If you're thinking about buying some land or a business, building, or subdividing land, you might need to get a resource consent - so it's a good idea to talk to your local city or district council first. Council staff can help you look through the relevant plans and work out whether you'll need a resource consent. Resource consents are obtained from regional, district and city councils or the Department of Conservation which, when carrying out this function, are known as consent authorities.

There are different types of resource consents. For example, land-use consents and water permits. The table below lists the different types of resource consents, the consent authorities responsible for issuing them, and gives examples of when resource consents might be required.

Consent types and the consent authorities responsible for issuing them

If you need to obtain a resource consent, then the consent authority (district/city or regional council) should also explain how to go about talking with people who might be affected by your project and preparing an assessment of environmental effects (AEE). Every application for resource consent must include an assessment of environmental effects. An AEE identifies all the environmental effects, positive and negative, of a proposed activity, and ways in which any negative effects can be prevented or reduced. For more information see the Ministry for the Environment's publication, A Guide to Preparing a Basic Assessment of Environmental Effects.

The council can process your consent with or without the general public being involved. Proposals that might have an effect on the environment that is 'more than minor', or may adversely affect someone who hasn't given their approval, are publicly notified or notice can be served only on those people who may be affected, this is called limited notification. In reality, most resource consent applications are not notified. Council staff will tell you whether or not your application will be publicly notified.

Anyone can make a submission on applications that have been publicly notified, and a public hearing is usually held to give applicants and submitters a chance to speak. Informal pre-hearing meetings may also be held. If you need consents from both a regional council and a district or city council, the two councils may decide to hear the applications together.

Councils are expected to process non-notified applications in roughly a month and publicly notified applications in about four months.

You can help make sure your consent application is processed quickly if you:

• talk to the council staff early on about what you want to do
• talk to people who you or the council thinks might be affected by your proposal
• give the council a well-prepared assessment of environmental effects
• respond quickly to requests for further information (the council can decline applications if there is insufficient information to process it).

Councils can decide to either grant or decline a resource consent. Some activities are 'controlled activities' and these must be granted, except for a few exceptions. Usually when the council grants a consent they also put some conditions on it. The council will also probably check that what you are doing is in line with your resource consent. This could mean that a council officer will visit the site, take some measurements, or require you to monitor the activity. Councils also decide how long to grant resource consent for. Some consents (like subdivision) last forever, while others might only last for a couple of years (for example a permit to take water from a river).

Councils will normally charge you an administration fee for considering your application, and they may also charge for ongoing monitoring. Costs range from council to council but generally non-notified consents cost on average between $350 and $600 and notified consents cost on average between $3000 and $5000.

If you're thinking about buying land or buildings, it's worth asking the local city or district council for a land information memorandum. This report will tell you what information the council has about that piece of land, including what the land can be used for under the district plan rules. If you want to check that an activity is okay under the council's plan, you can ask the council for a certificate of compliance. A certificate of compliance can only be issued for a permitted activity.

An existing use certificate is useful when an activity doesn't meet a current district or regional plan rule, but was lawfully established before the rule came into force.

If you're doing something that needs a building consent, you can get - before you start building - a project information memorandum, which will tell you if you also need to apply for a resource consent.

Applying for a resource consent

Sonya and Malcolm apply for a resource consent

Sonya and Malcolm want to build a home for themselves and a three-storey bed and breakfast in a bay surrounded by native bush, which includes a row of pohutukawa trees along the beach. The only access to the bay is by a private gravel driveway. The district plan says the land they want to build on has 'high conservation values'.

The plan also says that while a one-storey building is okay, a three-storey B&B is not. This is because it will affect the visual amenity of the landscape. Sonya and Malcolm talk to the district council and find out they'll need resource consent to build the B&B. The council says they'll need to fill out an application form and complete an assessment of environmental effects to support their application. The assessment they give the council includes detailed plans of the development and shows how the buildings will be designed.

The district council publicly notifies the resource consent application and gets 20 submissions from a range of people worried about how the buildings will affect the landscape.

The district council holds a pre-hearing meeting. Sonya, Malcolm, their architect and the submitters all turn up. The submitters say they'd be happy if Sonya, Malcolm and the council guarantee that the B&B wouldn't be visible from the other side of the bay and that the plans include landscaping to hide the buildings from view. The meeting goes well and everybody agrees that a formal hearing won't be necessary.

The council grants consent, but adds a few conditions to it:

1. Sonya and Malcolm need to make sure the buildings are designed, located and painted in accordance with the design plans.
2. Some extra planting and landscaping is carried out and the pohutukawa trees are not harmed in any way.

So while Sonya and Malcolm had to go back to the drawing board to change things a little, everyone is happy that their concerns have been addressed and Sonya and Malcolm still get their house and bed and breakfast.

For more information see 'An Everyday Guide to the RMA' booklets, 2.1 Applying for a Resource Consent, 2.2 Consultation for Resource Consent Applicants, and 3.3 Appearing at a Resource Consent Hearing.

Resource consents - how can I tell them what I think?

You can make a submission on publicly notified applications for resource consent

Sometimes a council will publicly notify a resource consent application. When this happens, anybody can make a submission. The council will consider all the submissions it receives, together with the application, and make a decision whether or not to grant the resource consent. To publicly notify a resource consent application, the council puts an ad in the newspaper and usually puts a sign on the proposed site.

Mel makes a submission on a resource consent application

Mel lives in a small town surrounded by dairy farms. Like everybody else, she knows the dairy factory on the road out of town is planning to expand. For the past 60 years, the wastewater from the factory has been treated and then piped to a stream that runs through town and out to the coast. The stream sometimes smells bad and locals put that down to the discharge from the factory. Mel reads a public notice on the factory site that says the factory wants to get resource consent from the regional council to increase the amount of waste going to the stream. The council is asking anybody who's interested to make a submission by the end of August.

Mel has a look at the application at the council offices. She then sends in her submission saying she opposes the application because she thinks the extra discharge will only make the odour problem worse. Mel says she's disappointed the application hasn't even addressed the existing odour problem. She wants the factory to do that as well as looking at extra treatment or other ways of disposing of its wastewater (such as spraying it on to land). Lots of other people in the town make similar submissions.

In October Mel goes to a public hearing at the council offices. The guy from the factory explains that they have looked at other disposal options, but they're too expensive, and besides, the soil just isn't suitable for land-based disposal. Mel talks to the council about her submission, along with some of the other submitters.

In November, the council releases its decision. Mel gets a copy in the mail. The council accepts that other disposal options wouldn't work, but agrees with the submitters that the way in which the waste is treated needs to be improved. It gives a resource consent for the project, but only if the factory rebuilds its treatment plant to improve the quality of the discharge. The consent also says that the regional council will be monitoring the condition of the stream and will require further work if the odour problem isn't fixed.

Mel is making a difference by having her opinion heard. By getting involved, Mel and the other submitters have been able to impact on the way the factory treats its wastewater.

For more information see 'An Everyday Guide to the RMA' booklet 3.2 Making a Submission on a Resource Consent and booklet 3.3 Appearing at a Resource Consent Hearing.

You can make a submission on limited notification applications for resource consent

If the effects of a proposed activity are not more than minor, the council might decide to notify the application only to those persons it considers to be affected. This is called limited notification.

Those directly notified by the council can make a submission on the application for resource consent. The council will consider all the submissions it receives, together with the application, and make a decision on whether or not to grant the resource consent. If all the people affected by the application have given their approval to the activity, an application will generally not be notified.

You can give your approval to projects that could affect you directly

You might be approached by someone who's asking for your written approval for something they want to do. This means that either the resource consent applicant or the council thinks you could be affected by the proposal and that it's only fair you get a say. If you don't give your approval then the application may be publicly notified if the effects on the environment are more than minor, or you may be served notice by the council as an affected party (limited notification) and you will be able to make a submission to the council instead.

For more information see 'An Everyday Guide to the RMA' booklet 3.1 Your Rights as an 'Affected Person'.

Jeff asks for Noelene's written approval

Jeff wants to build a big shed in his garden so he can have his mates around for regular snooker games. He checks the district plan and finds out he'll need to get a resource consent because the shed would be closer to the boundary than the plan allows. The district council planner tells him to get the written approval of his immediate neighbours along that boundary as the planner thinks those people could be affected by the shed and deserve a say.

Jeff and Noelene have a chat

Jeff goes over to see his neighbour, Noelene. He shows her drawings of the shed and points out where he wants it to go. Noelene's a little worried that Jeff and his mates will be able to look into her property from the big window Jeff wants to include. Jeff thinks about it again and decides he can move the window to the other side of the shed so it overlooks his own garden instead of Noelene's backyard.

Noelene signs Jeff's form

Jeff takes the revised drawings to Noelene and she says they are fine. She signs and dates the latest version of the plans that she is happy with. She signs the form that Jeff got from the council.

This says she has seen the revised drawings and gives her approval for Jeff's shed. Jeff takes Noelene's signed form to the council along with his application for resource consent. Having a chat with your neighbours early on in the process helps. Jeff was able to get his shed and Noelene is also happy.

You can appeal a council's decision

If you don't like the decision the council made about the parts of or all of the plan or a resource consent application you can ask the Environment Court to overturn the council's decision. The Court is made up of Judges and Commissioners and it reviews the case. The Court will consider the council decision and the positions of all parties who appear before it. You should get legal advice before you file an appeal. The process can be expensive and time consuming. You might be able to sort out your case in mediation and not have to go to court.

For more information see 'An Everyday Guide to the RMA' booklet 6.1 Your Guide to the Environment Court.

You should be aware though that only people who made a submission on the plan or resource consent application can appeal a council decision.

But there are other ways you may be able to have your say in Court. Even if you don't file an appeal, and someone else does, you could still get involved by appearing in Court:

• as someone who made a submission, or
• as someone who has an interest greater than the public generally, or
• in support of the person who filed the appeal.