Applying for resource consent Te tono ki te whakaaetanga rawa

The Resource Management Act (RMA) is the main law that sets out how we manage New Zealand’s environment.

The RMA’s goal is to promote the sustainable management of our natural and physical resources. It encourages business owners and communities to plan for the long-term future of our built and natural environment through council plans. These plans also contain the rules that regulate business and other activities.

In the most basic sense, the RMA oversees:

• where businesses can be based
• the extent of business activities you can undertake without needing resource consent
• when you need resource consent for business activities.

Councils' responsibilities

District and city councils are responsible for activities involving use of land.

Regional councils are responsible for water quality, air quality and the coastal environment.

Some district and city councils (called unitary authorities) have the responsibilities, duties and powers of regional councils. These are Auckland, Gisborne, Marlborough, Nelson, Tasman and Chatham Islands.

If you want to use a natural resource, you must check what the regional plan provides for.

Examples of natural resources are:

• gravel
• water directly from a river or stream
• discharging something into the air, water, or onto land.

You will probably also need to have equipment or processes in place to treat any discharges, so they meet the regional plan standard.

Check your regional or unitary council’s website for details of their regional plans.

You can get resource consents from regional, district and city councils.

A resource consent gives you permission to undertake an activity that doesn’t comply with a council’s plan. Council staff can help you look through the relevant plans and work out if you’ll need resource consent.

Applying for resource consent depends on:

• what your business is 
• what the environment is like where you want to be based. 

Resource consents are considered case by case.

For more complex projects, it may be worth getting a planning consultant to prepare a resource consent application for you.

If you can meet most standards in the council’s plan, it may be easier to get consent than if you can’t meet any of the standards. If you have the support of your neighbours, it may also be easier to obtain consent.

Councils normally charge:

• an administration fee for each application
• a fee for any ongoing monitoring required. 

Check your council’s website for a list of fees, or ask for their fees brochure. Talk to council staff, as the application fee may not cover all the costs involved.

As a guide, allow one to four months for your application to be processed. To help this run smoothly and potentially keep fees down, you can:

• contact council staff early about what you want to do
• talk to people you or the council thinks might be affected by your proposed activities
• give the council a well-prepared assessment of the impact on the environment
• respond quickly to requests for more information – councils can decline an application if there is insufficient information to process it.