PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS BY COUNCIL          [Previous Page]

The following is an outline of the procedure the Council will follow in processing your application:

Initial Assessment

This is a check for application COMPLETENESS, i.e. has Form 9(100KB) been filled in, have 5 copies been submitted etc. and of CONTENT, i.e. has enough information been supplied to allow everyone to understand exactly what you are proposing and what effects it will have.

If the answer is No, you will be asked for further information. When checked and found adequate the application will proceed. In some cases, such as where no assessment of environmental effects has been submitted, the Council may return the application to you (within 5 working days of receiving it) and request that a complete application be submitted.


Notification/Non Notification

As part of its initial assessment the Council has to decide whether your proposal needs to be publicly notified, processed with “limited notification”, or processed without notification.

It makes this decision based on the likely effects of your proposal and the response of the affected people. The process for each is outlined below.


Non Notified

	The Planning Officer usually visits the site. If necessary comments are sought from Engineering and Building staff.
	The Planning Officer then writes a report on your proposal – based on the information you have submitted, staff comments, the District Plan requirements and the Resource Management Act provisions.
	In most cases, a decision will be made under delegated authority by two members of staff. In some cases, a hearing will be held by the Hearings Committee (or Commissioners) and a decision made.
	Depending on how the decision is made (by staff delegation or by hearing) the decision made is appealable to the either the Hearings Committee or the Environment Court.
	Staff may need to make contact with you during the processing and consideration of your application. This will normally be to ensure that we have a full understanding of your proposal. Please feel free to keep in contact with staff.

General
This process can take up to 20 – 25 working days. The Council can “stop the clock” at any time during this process to ask you for further information. In addition the Council can, under certain circumstances, up to double the time frames set out in the Act for its processing of your application.

Notified

	The Council puts a public notice in the local newspaper – calling for submissions (within 20 working days).   Form 13 - Submission on Application Publicly Notified (17KB)
	The Planning Officer visits the site. If necessary, comments are sought from Engineering and Building Staff. The Planning Officer then writes a report on your proposal – based on the information you have submitted, the submissions received, any other staff comments, the District Plan requirements and the Resource Management Act provisions.
	In most cases, a hearing is held by the Hearings Committee (or Commissioners) and a decision made.
	The decision made is appealable to the Environment Court by you or any person who made a submission.

General
This process can take up to 60 to 75 working days. The Council can “stop the clock” at any time during this process to ask you for further information. In addition the Council can, under certain circumstances, up to double the time frames set out in the Act for processing of your application.

Limited Notification

“Limited Notification” is a category of notification which relates only to those resource consent applications where council staff have determined that the activity will have only minor effects on the environment, but where an affected party approval has not been obtained. In this case, the application would be notified only to those parties identified by the council as being affected. Only these parties will be able to make a submission on the resource consent application and participate in a hearing. The remainder of the process is the same as for a publicly notified application.