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Resource Management Act 1991

Resource consents - Public notification and limited notification of applications

95A: Public notification of consent applications

You could also call this:

“This explains how officials decide if everyone should know about someone's request to use land or resources.”

When you apply for a resource consent, the consent authority must decide if they need to tell the public about your application. They follow these steps in order:

First, they check if your application meets any of these conditions: you asked for it to be publicly notified, the law says it must be, or it’s part of a request to swap recreation reserve land. If any of these are true, they will tell the public about your application.

If not, they move to the next step. They check if your application is for activities that aren’t allowed to be publicly notified, or if it’s only for controlled activities or certain boundary activities. If this is the case, they skip the third step.

In the third step, they check if any of your activities must be publicly notified by law, or if they think your activities might harm the environment more than a little bit. If either of these is true, they will tell the public about your application.

If none of the above apply, they check if there’s anything special about your application that means the public should know about it. If there is, they will tell the public. If not, they won’t tell the public, but they might tell some specific people about it instead.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2416409.

Topics:
Environment and resources > Conservation
Environment and resources > Town planning
Government and voting > Local councils
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95: Time limit for public notification or limited notification, or

“Rules for deciding how quickly the government must tell people about requests to use land or resources”

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95B: Limited notification of consent applications, or

“Telling some people about permission requests for special activities”

Part 6 Resource consents
Public notification and limited notification of applications

95APublic notification of consent applications

  1. A consent authority must follow the steps set out in this section, in the order given, to determine whether to publicly notify an application for a resource consent.

  2. Determine whether the application meets any of the criteria set out in subsection (3) and,—

  3. if the answer is yes, publicly notify the application; and
    1. if the answer is no, go to step 2.

      1. The criteria for step 1 are as follows:

      2. the applicant has requested that the application be publicly notified:
        1. public notification is required under section 95C:
          1. the application is made jointly with an application to exchange recreation reserve land under section 15AA of the Reserves Act 1977.

            1. Determine whether the application meets either of the criteria set out in subsection (5) and,—

            2. if the answer is yes, go to step 4 (step 3 does not apply); and
              1. if the answer is no, go to step 3.

                1. The criteria for step 2 are as follows:

                2. the application is for a resource consent for 1 or more activities, and each activity is subject to a rule or national environmental standard that precludes public notification:
                  1. the application is for a resource consent for 1 or more of the following, but no other, activities:
                    1. a controlled activity:
                        1. a restricted discretionary, discretionary, or non-complying activity, but only if the activity is a boundary activity.

                          2. Repealed

                          3. Determine whether the application meets either of the criteria set out in subsection (8) and,—

                          4. if the answer is yes, publicly notify the application; and
                            1. if the answer is no, go to step 4.

                              1. The criteria for step 3 are as follows:

                              2. the application is for a resource consent for 1 or more activities, and any of those activities is subject to a rule or national environmental standard that requires public notification:
                                1. the consent authority decides, in accordance with section 95D, that the activity will have or is likely to have adverse effects on the environment that are more than minor.

                                  1. Determine whether special circumstances exist in relation to the application that warrant the application being publicly notified and,—

                                  2. if the answer is yes, publicly notify the application; and
                                    1. if the answer is no, do not publicly notify the application, but determine whether to give limited notification of the application under section 95B.

                                      Notes
                                      • Section 95A: replaced, on , by section 137 of the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 15).
                                      • Section 95A(5)(b)(ii): repealed, on , by section 33(1) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 30).
                                      • Section 95A(5)(b)(iv): repealed, on , by section 33(1) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 30).
                                      • Section 95A(6): repealed, on , by section 33(2) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 30).