A Resource Consent is a consent from Council that allows you to undertake an activity, whether that be a new business or a row of terraced housing, to siting a single house in a different location than what might normally be allowed. No matter where you are in Hawke’s Bay, Tairawhiti or across the central North Island, these simple steps will help you on your journey to consent completion:

1. First you need to establish whether or not you need a Resource Consent. The District Plan or Regional Plan provides a set of Rules and Performance Standards based on your zone. Bay Planning can quickly look at your proposal and determine if Resource Consent will be needed. There are different rules depending on where you are (eg Napier, Hastings, Gisborne or Taupo) as each area has its own District or Regional plan.

2. If you do need a Resource Consent, Bay Planning will talk you through the next steps and work with you along with any other specialists (surveyor, engineer, designer) to ensure that the design is appropriate for your site and has the best chance at getting a Resource Consent.

3. One of our team will come out to your site and meet with you to discuss your proposal, along with gaining an understanding of your property and your neighbour’s properties.

4. If your application is complex, we may suggest that a pre-application meeting with the Council is needed. We will arrange that and attend with you, or on your behalf.

5. You may also need to approach your neighbours to talk about your proposal, and sometimes we will recommend that you ask your neighbours to complete a form, called an Affected Persons Approval Form. If this is needed, it will often simplify the Resource Consent process, and we will help you through this stage.

6. Once we have all of the necessary documents, such as plans, engineering reports or scheme plans, we will prepare an Assessment of Environmental Effects. This is the report required under the Resource Management Act 1991 and explains your project to the Council planners. You may hear this called an AEE.

7. Once we have completed the AEE, we will lodge your application to Council. Bay Planning will look after your resource consent application for you and keep you updated as we progress. You will be required to pay a deposit to Council for the processing of the consent, and there are usually further fees at the end. Bay Planning can advise you on these fees. The fees vary between councils across Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Taupo and elsewhere.

8. Sometimes, the Council will ask for further information (called a s92), and this might require us to have a discussion with you to look at making changes to your proposal, or might be as simple as updating the plans with some extra information.

9. Once all of the questions have been answered, it is very likely that Council will issue a Resource Consent for your activity - success!

10. All Resource Consents come with conditions, usually there will be a few that you will need to comply with, and we will work with you to understand these conditions. In the case of a subdivision, there are generally conditions that need to be complied with before title is issued. We always recommend working with your suryveor to navigate these conditions.

11. You will generally have five (5) years to give effect to your Resource Consent, and we encourage you to start as soon as you can, there is never a cheaper time than right now.

How much will it cost?

At Bay Planning we will normally offer a set fee to progress your application to lodgement into Council. Once the application is in Council being processed, any further time we spend on the application will be on a per hour basis and invoiced accordingly. When you first reach out to us, we can usually give a general idea of what our fee will be, to allow you to factor this into your budget.

Remember, all of the specialists that you engage, such as a surveyor or engineer will charge fees, and we recommend getting a quote from each company before you proceed.

Council fees are provided on their website. Some Councils, such as Napier City Council, do not charge a deposit, while others, such as Hastings District Council will charge a deposit and then processing fees at the end of the consenting process. Based on the application that you wish to make, we can provide an estimate of what your Council fees will be.

If you are building a new house and/or subdividing, you may be required to pay Development Contributions, these fees contribute to the increase in infrastructure required to facilitate your new dwelling, or new Lot. A handy guide to what Development Contributions are can be found on the HASTINGS DISTRICT COUNCIL WEBSITE.