Notification of resource consent applications

When a resource consent application is publicly notified, anyone can make a submission on the application, and any submitter can appeal the decision of the council to the Environment Court The Act also makes provision for limited notification where only people who are affected by the proposed activity (“affected parties”) are notified and given the opportunity to lodge a submission. If a resource consent application is not notified, there is no ability to submit and appeal.

In practice, currently less than five per cent of applications are publicly notified. This means that members of the public have no opportunity to make submissions on the vast majority of resource consent applications. However, affected parties or affected protected customary rights groups must normally have given written approval to the proposal as a prerequisite to non-notification. Affected customary marine title groups are to be notified in the case of applications for “accommodated activities” (as defined in the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011).

Last updated at 10:40AM on January 5, 2018