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165ZF: Regional council may request direction to process and hear together applications for permits to occupy common marine and coastal area for purpose of aquaculture activities
or “A council can ask the government to group together and review sea farming requests in one area at the same time.”
You could also call this:

“The Minister can tell the regional council to look at fish farming applications together to manage their effects better.”

When someone asks the Minister to process and hear applications for coastal permits together, the Minister has to do a few things. First, they must talk to the Minister of Conservation. They can also talk to other people they think are important and ask the regional council for more information.

Within 25 working days of getting the request, the Minister must make a decision. They can either tell the regional council to process and hear the applications together, or they can say no to the request. If they say yes, they will put a notice in the Gazette (which is like a special government newspaper) telling the regional council what to do.

The notice in the Gazette will say which areas in the sea the decision applies to, what kinds of aquaculture activities it’s about, and which applications it includes. It can cover applications made before or after the notice, but there are some applications it can’t include, like ones that have already started being heard or ones that are being dealt with by other parts of the government.

The Minister can also say in the notice that some new applications can’t be processed until decisions have been made on the ones mentioned in the notice. The regional council has to follow what the notice says.

The Minister must tell the regional council, the Minister of Conservation, and the Environmental Protection Authority about their decision. From the date of the notice, the regional council must process and hear together all the applications mentioned in the notice.

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Next up: 165ZFB: Application of sections 165ZFC to 165ZFH

or “Rules for processing multiple requests to use shared ocean areas at the same time”
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Part 7A Occupation of common marine and coastal area
Managing occupation in common marine and coastal area: Ministerial power to direct applications for coastal permits to undertake aquaculture activities in common marine and coastal area to be processed and heard together

165ZFAMinisterial power to direct applications to be processed and heard together

  1. If the Minister receives a request under section 165ZF(2), the Minister—

  2. must consult the Minister of Conservation: and
    1. may—
      1. consult any other person whom the Minister considers it appropriate to consult; and
        1. request any further information from the regional council that made the request; and
        2. must, within 25 working days after receiving the request,—
          1. by notice in the Gazette, direct the regional council to process and hear together applications for coastal permits to occupy the common marine and coastal area for the purposes of aquaculture activities (together with any other applications for coastal permits related to the aquaculture activities)—
            1. on the terms specified by the regional council in the request; or
              1. on terms that in the Minister’s opinion will facilitate efficient processing and better assessment and management of the cumulative effects of the applications that are the subject of the notice; or
              2. decline the request.

              3. A failure to comply with the time limit in subsection (1)(c) does not prevent the Minister from giving a direction or declining a request.

              4. Any period of consultation under subsection (1)(b)(i) is excluded from the period specified in subsection (1)(c).

              5. The Minister must not give a direction under subsection (1)(c)(i) unless he or she considers that the direction will facilitate efficient processing and better assessment and management of the cumulative effects of the applications that are the subject of the direction.

              6. The Gazette notice by which a direction is given under subsection (1)(c)(i) must specify—

              7. the space in the common marine and coastal area that the direction applies to; and
                1. the aquaculture activities that the direction applies to; and
                  1. the applications or classes of applications the direction applies to, which,—
                    1. subject to subparagraph (ii), may (without limitation) include—
                      1. applications made on or after the date of the Gazette notice; or
                        1. applications made but not determined before the date of the Gazette notice; or
                          1. applications defined by reference to their contents (for example, by the size of the space they relate to); but
                          2. may not include applications—
                            1. in respect of which the regional council has determined, before the date of the Gazette notice, to hold a hearing and the hearing has commenced or been completed; or
                              1. in respect of which the regional council has determined, before the date of the Gazette notice, that no hearing is required; or
                                1. to which section 165ZH applies; or
                                  1. made more than 12 months after the date of the Gazette notice; or
                                    1. in respect of which a notice of motion has been lodged with the Environment Court under section 87G before the date of the Gazette notice; or
                                      1. called in by the Minister of Conservation under section 142 before the date of the Gazette notice; or
                                        1. for which a call-in request has been made by the regional council or the applicant under section 142(1)(b) before the date of the Gazette notice, unless the request is declined; or
                                          1. lodged with the Environmental Protection Authority before the date of the Gazette notice, unless the application is referred to the local authority under section 147(1)(c).

                                        2. The Gazette notice by which a direction is given under subsection (1)(c)(i) may also specify that an application made after the notice, and that the notice does not relate to but would otherwise come within the scope of the notice, is not to be processed and heard until decisions have been made and notified on all of the applications to which the Gazette notice relates.

                                        3. The regional council must comply with a provision specified in the Gazette notice under subsection (6).

                                        4. The Minister must notify the decision to give a direction or to decline a request for a direction to the regional council, Minister of Conservation, and the Environmental Protection Authority.

                                        5. On and from the date of a Gazette notice under this section, the regional council concerned must process and hear together applications to which the direction in the Gazette notice applies.

                                        Notes
                                        • Section 165ZFA: inserted, on , by section 49 of the Resource Management Amendment Act (No 2) 2011 (2011 No 70).