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149S: Minister may extend time by which board must report
or “The Minister can give the board more time to finish their report if there's a good reason.”
You could also call this:

“When a big decision about the environment needs to be made, it goes to a special court for them to decide.”

When the Minister decides to send a matter to the Environment Court for a decision, you need to follow specific steps. You must give the court a notice of motion that explains what you want and why. You also need to provide an affidavit that describes the situation.

After you give these documents to the court, you must share copies with the local authority and anyone who made a submission about the matter. You should do this as soon as you can after giving them to the court. Then, you need to tell the court’s Registrar that you’ve shared the documents.

If the matter is about changing a district plan or varying a proposed district plan, you also need to share the documents with any authority that made requirements about the change or variation.

The court can tell you to share the documents with other people too. Anyone who wants to be involved in the case can join in, following the rules in Section 274 of the Act.

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Next up: 149U: Consideration of matter by Environment Court

or “The Environment Court looks at special cases and decides what to do based on certain rules.”
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Part 6AA Proposals of national significance
How matter decided if direction made to refer matter to board of inquiry or court: Matter decided by Environment Court

149TMatter referred to Environment Court

  1. This section applies if the Minister makes a direction under section 142(2)(b) or 147(1)(b) to refer a matter to the Environment Court for decision.

  2. The matter is referred to the Environment Court by the applicant lodging with the court—

  3. a notice of motion specifying the orders sought and the grounds on which the application is made; and
    1. a supporting affidavit on the circumstances giving rise to the application.

      1. The applicant must—

      2. serve a copy of the notice of motion and the affidavit on the local authority and, if applicable, every person who made a submission on the matter; and
        1. serve the documents as soon as is reasonably practicable after lodging them; and
          1. tell the Registrar when the documents have been served.

            1. If the matter is a change to a district plan proposed by a territorial authority under clause 2 of Schedule 1, or a variation to a proposed district plan, the applicant must also serve a copy of the notice of motion and affidavit on any requiring authority that made a requirement under clause 4 of Schedule 1 in respect of the change or variation.

            2. The court may at any time direct the applicant to serve a copy of the notice of motion and affidavit on any other person.

            3. Section 274 applies to a notice of motion lodged under this section.

            Notes
            • Section 149T: inserted, on , by section 100 of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 31).