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99: Pre-hearing meetings
or “Meetings to help people understand and solve problems before a big decision is made”
You could also call this:

“Allowing people to talk through their disagreements with the help of a neutral person”

You can ask a consent authority to help you sort out disagreements about a resource consent application. This is called mediation. The consent authority can suggest mediation if someone who applied for a resource consent and people who made submissions about it don’t agree.

The consent authority can only arrange mediation if everyone involved agrees to it. They can do this if someone asks for it, or if they think it’s a good idea. The mediation is only meant to help you talk about specific issues you disagree on.

The person who leads the mediation will be chosen by the consent authority. If the consent authority is the one who applied for the resource consent, they will pick someone else to lead the mediation.

After the mediation is finished, the person who led it will tell the consent authority what happened.

If you want to know more about who can lead a mediation, you can look at section 34A of this law.

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Next up: 100: Obligation to hold a hearing

or “This law explains when a meeting must be held to talk about someone's request to use resources.”
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Part 6 Resource consents
Pre-hearing meetings and mediation

99AMediation

  1. A consent authority may refer to mediation a person who has made an application for a resource consent and some or all of the persons who have made submissions on the application.

  2. The authority may exercise the power in subsection (1)—

  3. either—
    1. at the request of one of the persons; or
      1. on its own initiative; and
      2. only with the consent of all the persons being referred; and
        1. only for the purpose of mediating between the persons on a matter or issue.

          1. Mediation under this section must be conducted by—

          2. a person to whom the authority delegates, under section 34A, the power to mediate; or
            1. a person whom the authority appoints to mediate, if the authority is the person who has made an application for a resource consent.

              1. The person who conducts the mediation must report the outcome of the mediation to the consent authority.

              Notes
              • Section 99A: inserted, on , by section 58 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 87).