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102: Joint hearings by 2 or more consent authorities
or “When two or more authorities need to decide on a project, they can have a meeting together to talk about it and make a decision.”
You could also call this:

“When people ask for permission to do similar things, their requests can be looked at together”

When you apply for more than one resource consent for the same project, the consent authority (the group that decides on your applications) will usually hear and decide on all of them together. This is called a combined hearing. However, they might not do this if they think the applications are not closely related enough to need a combined hearing, and if you agree that a separate hearing is okay.

This rule also applies to any other decisions the consent authority needs to make about your project under this law.

If the consent authority asks special decision-makers called hearings commissioners to handle your application, and your application is going to be heard with other applications, then those same commissioners must decide on all the applications together.

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Next up: 103A: Time limit for completion of hearing of notified application

or “There's a limit on how long it can take to finish a hearing about a resource request that people were told about.”
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Part 6 Resource consents
Hearings

103Combined hearings in respect of 2 or more applications

  1. Where 2 or more applications for resource consents in relation to the same proposal have been made to a consent authority, and that consent authority has decided to hear the applications, the consent authority shall hear and decide those applications together unless—

  2. the consent authority is of the opinion that the applications are sufficiently unrelated so that it is unnecessary to hear and decide the applications together; and
    1. the applicant agrees that a combined hearing need not be held.

      1. This section shall also apply to any other matter the consent authority is empowered to decide or recommend on under this Act in relation to the same proposal.

      2. If a consent authority delegates its functions, powers, and duties in relation to a matter to 1 or more hearings commissioners in accordance with section 100A, and the matter is to be heard and decided together with other matters under this section, then all of the matters must be heard and decided by those commissioners.

      Notes
      • Section 103(2): inserted, on , by section 53 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 65).
      • Section 103(3): inserted, on , by section 81 of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 31).