Resource Management Act: Do you need some professional RMA advice?
Whether you are applying for a resource consent, making a submission on an application for resource consent or making a submission on a council plan you may need some help...
The amount of information you need to include in your application or submission will depend on how significant the environmental effects of the proposal will be.
Depending on the scale of the effects of the activity, you may wish to get help from an expert to prepare your application or submission. Applications for larger and more complex proposals are likely to benefit from the input from professional advisers and involving them early can save you time and cost later in the process.
What can I seek advice about?
Some of the issues or effects that you may need to seek advice about are:
- how the district or regional plan relates to your application or submission
- visual impacts/ urban design/ landscape effects
- stormwater and wastewater discharges
- economic and employment effects
- air discharge and odour
- traffic effects
- noise
- ecological effects
- Māori cultural values
- coastal processes and hazards
- subdivision requirements.
Who can help you?
You can engage a resource management planning consultant to help you identify issues and effects that need to be considered when putting together an application or submission. Resource management professionals or planning consultants can also carry out an assessment of the environmental effects of a proposal at a broad level and are often used to bring the expert advice from a number of professional experts together in an application or a submission.
There are a range of professional experts that can give you advice and information on a range of specific or technical topics, including:
- noise engineer
- engineer - structures, earthworks etc
- ecologist
- hydrologist
- economist
- social scientist
- landscape architect
- surveyor
- traffic engineer
- archeologist/ heritage expert
- cultural impact assessor.
You may want to engage a resource management lawyer to help you with the legal aspects of the submission or application process.
How do I get professional advice?
There are a number of ways you can find and contact an appropriate professional to help you with your application or submission:
- Check the White Pages and Yellow Pages - paper and on-line copies.
- Consultants in the infrastructure, water and environmental sector are listed on the NZ Greenpages website.
- The Planning Quarterly, published by the New Zealand Planning Institute, contains professional business card listings. Their website also has information on planning consultants.
- The NZ Law Society website provides advice on how to contact a lawyer in your area.
- Community law centres - check your local listing to see if they provide RMA services.
- Registered professional surveyors are listed by area on the NZ Institute of Surveyors website.
- NZ Institute of Landscape Architects website lists landscape architects.
- The Institution of Professional Engineers NZ website lists chartered professional engineers and provides links to consultancies.
- Archaeologists listings can be found on the NZ Archaeology website.
- Your council should have a list of tangata whenua groups in your area and the council should be able to point you to the appropriate people who can prepare cultural impact assessments.
- Use your business and industry associations or contacts who may be able to refer you to someone who has helped with a similar application or submission.
- Use your community contacts, including asking your neighbourhood association, checking if there is an environment centre in your area and any non-government organisations who are involved with the type of activity you are interested in.
- Use word of mouth to identify appropriate professionals. Others who have been involved in RMA processes may be able to give you a referral to someone they have used.
Your council
Your local or regional council will probably not recommend a particular consultant to you although some councils may have lists of locally based consultants.
Last updated: 16 January 2009
