Notified Consents

What is a Notified Consent?

There are two types of notified resource consent applications:

Publicly Notified - allows any person to lodge a submission in support and/or opposition, or to indicate a neutral position with respect to an application.

Note: The Central Otago District Council will publicly notify an application by displaying a sign or signs on the site, sending a copy of the application to affected parties and publishing a notice in the Central Otago News or, occasionally other newspapers, such as the Otago Daily Times.

Limited Notified - notice of the application is served on all persons who Council considers to be affected by a proposal, allowing only those persons identified as affected to lodge a submission.

Note: Persons who have been identified as affected and have provided their written approval, do not need to be served notice, and cannot lodge a submission.

Decision to Notify

Sections 95 to 95G of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) outline the requirements for notification of a resource consent application.

In accordance with s95A, an application must be publicly notified if:

• the activity will have or is likely to have adverse effects on the environment that are more than minor;
• or the applicant requests it; or
• a rule or national environmental standard requires public notification.

In addition, Council may choose to publicly notify the application if:

• regardless of any other matters, there are special circumstances (s95A(4))
• a notification decision has not been made and a further information request is not responded to before the
• deadline concerned or the applicant refuses to provide the information requested (s95C).

The decision to notify an application will be made within 20 days of it being lodged with the Council.

Submissions

Making a submission on a notified consent

Any person may make a submission on a publicly notified consent. A limited notified consent will be served by post on all persons who council consider to be affected by a proposal.

Writing a submission

The things you need to include in your submission are:

• Your full name, postal address, phone number and email address.
• Whether you support or oppose the application for resource consent.
• The reason for your submission.
• The decision you wish council to make, including any conditions sought.
• Whether you wish to be heard.

Note: Your submission, including contact details, become public information and will be made available and published online as part of this process.

Where to send your submission

Make sure you lodge your submission by the closing date stated in the notice. You may do so via:

• Online portal link - click on the Current Publicly Notified Consents link at the top of this page (then click on the relevant resource consent application).
• Email - resource.consents@codc.govt.nz.
• Post - Central Otago District Council, PO Box 122, Alexandra 9340, New Zealand.

You will also need to serve a copy of your submission to the applicant as soon as possible. The applicant's address for service is included in the public notice.

Where do I find the application information?

To view a notified consent, you can either view the application at one of our Council offices or it is available on the Current Publicly Notified Consents webpage (link at the top of this page).

How much time do I have to make a submission?

The standard time for making a submission is 20 working days from the day the application is publicly notified in the newspaper. The closing date for submissions is stated in the public notice.

What happens next?

When submissions have closed you will be notified if the application is proceeding to a hearing.

The Hearing

Hearings are usually conducted by the Council's Hearings Panel. In some instances, an Independent Commissioner may be appointed to hear the application in place of the Hearings Panel.

Notice of the date, time and location of the hearing will be provided to the applicant and submitters at least 10 working days before the hearing.

Who can be heard?

The applicant and anybody who has made a submission can speak, either personally or through a representative, and present evidence in support of their application or submission should they wish to do so.

Decision

A decision will be made and released 15 working days after the closing of the hearing. The applicant and submitters will receive a copy of the decision.

Appealing the Decision

The Council's decision on notified resource consent applications can be appealed to the Environment Court by the applicant or any submitter. Appeals must be lodged within 15 working days of the Council's decision being received.

Information regarding what is required can be found on the following link: Ministry of Justice Forms page

The postal address for Environment Court is:

The Registrar
Environment Court of New Zealand
PO Box 2069
Christchurch 8013
New Zealand