7 Receipt of the Applications
Section 88 of the Act outlines the procedure for the receipt of resource consent applications. In particular, s88(3) allows a consent authority to return an application, along with reasons, if they consider the application to be incomplete. This has to occur within five working days, although this timeframe can be doubled under the provisions of s37 provided certain matters have been taken into account. These include consideration of the interests of affected parties and the duty to avoid unreasonable delay.
Representatives of both Save the Wairau and the Marlborough Freshwater Anglers Club were critical of the MDC receiving the applications, saying that subsequent work, particularly the s92 peer review reports, showed them to be incomplete.
The main application was a 167 page document which was accompanied by 11 supporting technical documents, many of which were lengthy and very detailed, and four appendices. Realistically it was impossible for the MDC to assess whether the application was “complete” within 10 working days. Many of the accompanying technical reports would need to have been peer reviewed by competent experts, some of which would have to have been contracted externally.
However, MDC were asked by TPL to look at and comment on draft applications some time before they were lodged. MDC refused to do so for reasons not specified.3 TPL commented that MDC are the only consent authority they have dealt with to date that has refused to make comment on draft applications.
7.1 Lessons Learnt
There is one key lesson for consent authorities generally regarding the process of receiving applications:
- Any concern about the completeness of applications when lodged can largely be overcome by consent authorities viewing and commenting on “draft applications”. This is common practice. While some concerns have been raised that councils cannot charge applicants for reviewing draft applications, arrangements are sometimes entered into with applicants regarding payment for such work.
In addition to this lesson there is also a legislative requirement associated with the receipt of applications that could warrant further consideration by MfE:
- The five working day period for consent authorities to return incomplete applications under s88(3) of the RMA is much too short for complex, multi-disciplinary applications such as those for the Wairau hydro scheme. Although this period can be doubled to ten working days under the provisions of s37 of the Act, this is still considered too short for applications of this nature.
3 MDC contest that they were asked to review draft applications; TPL assert that they did ask.
