Consent Charges

About resource consent application charges

When you apply for a resource consent, there are charges involved. These charges cover the costs of the Council's work in processing your application. They help ensure that these costs aren't paid by everyone through general rates. You can find information about the deposits needed to start an application or other related processes in the Fees and Charges section.

Sometimes, the deposit paid might not cover all the actual and reasonable costs of processing your application due to its complexity. If your application needs more work, you might have to pay an extra deposit, especially if it is publicly or limited notified

Once a decision is made on your application, you'll receive an invoice or instructions for a refund based on the total processing costs. Some consent applications remain active for many months, such as when an applicant is gathering further information. In these instances we will review costs every three months. If the costs exceed the deposit paid, you'll receive an interim invoice.

To keep your costs down, try to give us all the necessary information with your application. The resource consent forms have a checklist of information that isn't mandatory but is helpful for processing.

Our staff are happy to give advice on your application before you apply. We provide up to 30 minutes of free advice. After that, we start charging at the rates specified in our Fees and Charges.

For land use resource consents we grant, there's a $125 monitoring fee for the first hour of monitoring charges once we start monitoring the conditions of the consent. Additional charges apply if it takes longer than an hour.

If you need clarification about your resource consent application, please get in touch with our planning staff.

Activities undertaken for all resource consents

The following activities will be undertaken and charged for all resource consents where applicable:

• Administration, ie typing, filing, letters;
• Review of application including internal comments by departments of Council;
• Collate comments/submissions and write letters regarding further information;
• Receive any further information and review;
• Visit site of application;
• Develop draft decision (and appropriate conditions);
• Peer reviews;
• Granting of consent and administration;
• Monitoring and associated actions related to any consent issued and compliance with conditions;
• Peer reviews for any technical matters if required; and
• Discuss matters relating to the application with the applicant or his/her agents or advisers.

Special activities undertaken for notified resource consents

In the case of a notified resource consent application, additional activities will be undertaken:

• Public notification of application;
• Letters to all affected parties;
• Arranging pre-hearing meetings and attending such meetings as required;
• Reports from Council officers, including planning report;
• Arranging and attending hearings on the matter, if required;
• Commissioners fees;
• Assistance to Commissioner; and
• Notification of decision.

Plan change applications

Making changes to district or regional plans involves a process outlined in the Resource Management Act 1991. This allows anyone to seek changes through a private plan change. This process is typically used for large-scale developments or changes to land zoning.

When we receive a request for a plan change, we decide whether to adopt it, accept it as a private plan change, convert it to a resource consent, or reject it. An applicant might ask the Council to contribute to the funding of a private plan change request on the grounds that the development will have some degree of public benefit or has links to Council policy. However, if your request is considered of private benefit only, the processing will be fully cost recoverable. You can request that interim accounts be presented to you; otherwise a final account will be presented at the completion of the process.

A private plan change usually takes from six months to one year, but it can take as long as three years. Costs for large-scale developments range from a minimum of $10,000 to $1M. For a minor plan change, such as a single zone change, average costs are around $8,000 to $30,000 if the proposal has minimal opposition. The costs and processing times for a plan change might not differ much from those of a resource consent application for the same activity.

The two types of deposits shown on the Fees and Charges schedule reflect whether the application is for a "minor" or a "major" proposal.

Just like with resource consents, we offer 30 minutes of free pre-application advice. After that, we charge based on our Fees and Charges rates.

Activities undertaken for all plan changes

The following activities will be undertaken and charged for plan changes where applicable:

• Administration i.e. typing, filing, letters, recording costing;
• Review of application including internal comments by departments of Council;
• Site visit(s);
• Discussion with the applicant and/or their agent;
• Commissioning of expert reports;
• Writing further information requests;
• Peer review of technical matters (if required);
• Public advertisements, and letter drops (if this method is used);
• Commenting on submissions and further submissions;
• Writing officer report and recommendation(s);
• Engaging a Commissioner;
• Holding a public hearing (if necessary);
• Paying for the Commissioners time and their report; and
• Taking the Commissioner recommendation to the Council for adoption.

Use of external consultants

We do our best to process all resource consent and plan change applications ourselves. However, if our planning team is handling a lot of applications, we might bring in external consultants to help. This ensures we provide you with an efficient and timely service. We'll let you know if your application will be processed externally as soon as the decision is made to do so.

Fees and charges

Please refer to Council's current Fees and Charges. Please note that the charges specified are deposits only. Charge-out rates will be used to assess actual costs.

You must pay all actual and reasonable application costs incurred by the Grey District Council in processing the application, regardless of whether or not the application is granted.

If there's a delay in payment, there will be a 1.5% monthly interest charge on overdue amounts until full payment is made. Any costs we incur in recovering the money, including debt collection agency fees and legal fees, will be passed on to you.

Please note:

• Applications will not be received and processed until the minimum deposit fee is paid;
• If the minimum deposit fee does not cover the full cost incurred by Council is processing the consent application(s), then the balance will be invoiced either on an interim basis, or at the time the decision on the consent application(s) is released; and
• Council reserves the right to suspend delivery of further goods and/or services if the payment terms aren't met.