You will need:
- plans to show what is proposed
- Assessment of environmental effects
- Record of title (including copies of registered interests). This must be a recent search copy issued within three months of making your application.
Depending on the work you are carrying out other technical reports may be needed. These must be prepared by suitably qualified and experienced professionals.
Guide to preparing a basic Assessment of Environmental Effects (environment.govt.nz)
You are entitled to a free hour-long pre-application meeting to discuss your proposal with our staff before you lodge your application.
Any follow up work will be charged at a standard rate to cover actual and reasonable costs.
Book a pre-application meeting
Bring your completed application and supporting information into one of our Customer Service centres:
Te Iwitahi (civic centre)
9 Rust Avenue, Whangārei
Hours: Monday to Friday – 8:00am to 4:30pm
Closed public holidays
Ruakākā service centre
9 Takutai Place, Ruakākā
Hours: Monday to Friday – 8:30am to 4:00pm
Closed public holidays
Service centre at isite
92 Otaika Road, Raumanga
Hours: Monday to Friday – 9:00am to 12:00pm and 12:30pm to 4:30pm
Closed public holidays
When we receive your application, we will check it for completeness. If your application doesn't include sufficient information, we will contact you.
You will need to submit a new online application with the additional information included.
If you or your agent don’t agree with the reasons for returning the application, either of you can formally object, in writing, within 15 working days of receiving the returned application.
Upon receiving your application, we will send you an invoice for our advance deposit fee.
You can pay the invoice either online or in person.
Online: Pay an application fee or invoice
Depending on the complexity of the application, additional fees may also be charged to cover all actual and reasonable costs of processing your application. This may include for example specialist review of technical reports.
If your application is returned, your deposit will be returned, less the cost of the completeness check.
Additional fees will be charged at completion of the processing of your application. Where the application is more complex or lengthy to process, we may send an interim invoice.
Resource management fees and charges
Once your advance fee is received your application will be assigned to a planner for processing. The application will be assessed against the following requirements of the Resource Management Act 1991 and a site visit will take place as part of this process.
As part of this process, we will check for any rule infringements relating to matters that can no longer be considered when making a resource consent decision.
Where the only rule infringement relates to a matter that can no longer be considered, we will return your application and issue a permitted activity notice.
Most applications are processed as non-notified consents within 20 working days.
If we decide your application needs to be notified to neighbours and / or the public, we will let you know. This will add more time to the consent process.
Notifications, submissions and hearing
Timeframes may also be extended if we need you to provide further information. If this happens the 'processing clock' will be stopped until you provide this.
Your application may either be approved with conditions or declined.
Where it is approved, we will assess what development contributions apply to your application, as set out in our Development Contributions Policy.
Development contributions
If your application is declined, you are not able to proceed with your proposal. Depending on the nature of the consent sought, you may be able to appeal our decision.
At any stage you may withdraw your application by advising the processing planner of your intention to do so.
We will send you a copy of our decision, including any conditions you need to comply with when carrying out the work.
An invoice for any outstanding processing fees will be issued at this time. You may also receive an invoice for costs associated with monitoring the conditions of your consent.
Once you receive your resource consent you can start the approved work but will need to make sure you carry this out in accordance with all conditions.
Our monitoring team will check you are carrying out the work within the limits and conditions of your consent.
Monitoring conditions of your resource consents