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Resource Management (Discount on Administrative Charges) Regulations 2010

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Scope of the Regulations
• 3 Implementing the Regulations
• 4 Administering the Regulations
• 5 Timeframes and working days
• 6 Monitoring the Regulations
• Appendix A: Basic forms for discount invoicing
• Appendix B: Basic form for reviewing decisions on discounts
• Appendix C: Basic letter for discount disputes
• Appendix D: Basic letters to accompany discount invoices
• Appendix E: Calculating the total timeframes for common consent categories
• Appendix F: Timeframes for applications affected by direct referral
• Appendix G: Clock stopping for direct referral applications
• Appendix H: Map of timeframes

2 Scope of the Regulations

The Regulations apply automatically to all consent applications and applications to change or cancel conditions which are not processed within timeframes set in the Act, unless a local authority has adopted a more generous policy. The discount applies to both notified (including limited notified) and non-notified consent applications.

An applicant does not have to apply to the local authority to receive a discount. The responsibility for processing consent applications within the Act’s timeframes rests with local authorities.

The discount only applies to administrative charges imposed under section 36. It includes:

• the total charges an applicant would pay the local authority to receive, process and grant (or refuse) a consent application
• the total charges due from a consent holder for an application to change or cancel a consent condition(s). If no administrative charges are associated with the processing of a consent application, no discount will apply.

The discount regulations do not apply to administrative charges for development contributions, monitoring fees and charges, subdivision certifications and any other charges set by a local authority under any other Act, such as building consent fees or dog registrations.

Type of applications the Regulations apply to

Section 360(1)(hj) limits discounts to consent applications for resource consent or applications to change or cancel conditions under section 127. The meaning of ‘resource consent’ is set out in section 87 of the Act and includes land-use consents, subdivision consents, coastal permits, water permits and discharge permits. Therefore, the Regulations do not apply to:

• applications for extensions to consent lapsing periods (section 125)
• local authority initiated consent reviews (section 128)
• certificates of compliance (section 139)
• existing use certificates (section 139A)
• designations and heritage protection orders (notices of requirement) (Part 8)
• outline plans (section 176A)
• water conservation orders (Part 9)
• survey plans (section 223)
• completion certificates (section 224)
• objections to Council decisions (section 357A).

In certain situations, the Regulations apply to consent applications subject to direct referral (section 87C) and call in (section 142). This is covered in Chapter 5 under ‘Less common consent categories’.

What date do the Regulations apply from?

The Regulations only apply to consent applications lodged on or after 31 July 2010. Any consent applications received before the Regulations come into force are not eligible for a discount.

Applications lodged with the Environmental Protection Authority

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is not a local authority. Therefore, the Regulations do not apply to consent applications lodged with the EPA where the Minister for the Environment (the Minister) has made a direction to refer the application to either a board of inquiry or to the Environment Court.

Phase II of the Resource Management reforms will consider whether the Regulations should also apply to consent applications lodged with the EPA and decided by a board of inquiry. Any changes to the Regulations will not apply to consent applications once they have been referred to the Environment Court as these do not have timeframes that are required to be met under the Act.

Consent applications lodged with the EPA are only subject to the Regulations if the Minister refers the application back to the local authority to consider and decide under section 147. This is discussed further in Chapter 5 under ‘Less common consent categories’.

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