Keeping it fair – good hearings make for good decisions
A council may hold a hearing under the Resource Management Act (RMA) if it has been asked to make a decision about an important resource management issue.
Two occasions for a hearing include:
- consent hearings
- policy statements and plan hearings.
Hearings are:
- a chance for submitters to take part in the decision-making process
- informal
- carried out fairly and openly.
Complex issues involved
It’s usually the more complicated resource consent applications that need a hearing. (Around five percent of resource applications are publicly notified and only some of these require a hearing.) An application that requires a hearing is likely:
- to have significant environmental effects; or
- to have challenging issues that the community is concerned about.
Decisions on policy statements and plans are also often difficult and complex.
Natural justice principles apply
Several Acts govern how hearings are run, and they also follow the principles of natural justice:
- people must have an opportunity to be heard in support of their own case and to comment on other cases
- people must have enough time to prepare
- decisions must be fair and independent.
Councils do everything they can to avoid potential or perceived conflicts of interest, for example, in choosing the hearing panel and what happens during the hearing.
Delegation of authority
The RMA permits limited delegation of council decision-making, and most councils’ standing orders require certain procedures to be followed for implementing any delegation. The full powers of decision-making on resource consents can be delegated to either a standing committee of a council or to a commissioner.
The RMA does not permit councils to delegate the approval of policy statements, plans, or plan changes. However, a hearing panel can conduct the hearings of submissions and they make recommendations to a council.
