When the Regional Council is considering a resource consent application, one of the decisions they must make is whether the application needs to be notified. Section 95 of the Resource Management Act (RMA) sets out that the notification decision must be made within 10 working days after the application was lodged for fast-track applications, and 20 working days for all other applications.
There are two types of notification – public notification and limited notification. Both types of notification allow for submissions to be made on the application. With public notification anyone can make a submission (except trade competitors) whereas with limited notification, it is only those that were notified.
Why are resource consent applications notified? Under Sections 95A – 95G of the RMA the Council needs to assess the application against a set of criteria to determine whether public or limited notification is required. An applicant also may request that their application is notified. The majority of resource consent applications will not be notified.
There are some rules and national environmental standards that require resource consents to be publicly notified. Some other reasons why a resource consent may be publicly notified include the adverse effects of the proposed activity are considered to be more than minor or the applicant has refused to supply additional information that was requested.
With limited notification the Council has determined that certain individuals or groups will be potentially adversely affected by the activity. Only these specific people or groups are limited notified and given the opportunity to review the details of the proposal and make a submission.
When an application is publicly or limited notified, there is a period of 20 working days for submissions to be made. A submission must state whether it supports or opposes the application or is neutral. The RMA sets out further timeframes after the submission time period has closed including the commissioning of a hearing. A hearing is not always required, for example, if no submissions have been received or submitters don’t wish to be heard. Alternatively the submitters and applicants can come to an agreement without a hearing.
If a hearing is required, the applicant and submitters present their case and the decision is made by the commissioner or hearing panel.
Sue Clark
Environmental Consultant