Resource consents are tools used to achieve sustainable use of natural and physical resources. They help ensure that the environment we enjoy today will be looked after for future generations.

The Resource Management Act (1991) gives regional councils, like Horizons Regional Council, the authority to issue resource consents to people who plan to undertake certain activities that affect water, air, and land.

If you are granted a resource consent, you have the right, often subject to conditions, to use or affect the natural resource.

If you supply all the necessary information and pay the application deposit, our staff then decide how the consent will be processed, in one of three ways as stated below. This decision is based on the legal requirements under the Resource Management Act.

1. Non-notified
If the environmental effects of your proposed activity are minor, and you have received written approval from all adversely-affected parties, then your application can be processed 'non-notified'.

The decision to issue a non-notified consent is made by senior staff. If you are unhappy with their decision an objection can be made to Horizons Regional Council.

2. Limited Notification

If the environmental effects of your proposed activity are minor and it has been possible to identify all affected parties, and you have provided nearly all of the written approvals from those affected parties, then your application can be processed by "Limited Notification".

When an application is notified by limited notification, the Regional Council identifies those parties adversely affected by the proposal pursuant to Section 94 B and then notifies them directly. Limited notification is an alternative step to full public notification when an application which has minor effects cannot be processed non-notified. No public notice is placed in the newspaper and there is no sign placed at the site of the proposed activity. The only people who can make a submission on a Limited Notification are those parties directly notified. A submission period of at least 20 working days is allowed for this.

If no submissions are received then a decision will be made within 20 working days.

If submissions are received then the process continues as if the application was notified.

3. Notified

Your application is 'notified' when the environmental effects of the proposed activity are not minor, and/or you do not have written approval from adversely-affected parties.

We place a public notice in the newspaper, and at or near the site of the proposed activity. We also send copies of the application to the relevant district or city council, neighbours, affected parties, iwi authorities, and special interest groups.

Anyone can make a submission on a notified application during a specified period of at least 20 working days.

If we receive submissions we may hold a pre-hearing meeting to try and clarify or resolve any concerns. We also encourage applicants to talk to submitters. Concerns are often resolved this way. However, if no agreement is reached, we may hold a formal hearing to gain an outcome.

The decision of the Hearing Committee can be appealed to the Environment Court. Please ask for our information sheet on making a submission, pre-hearings and hearings.

As an applicant you pay 100% of the processing costs for your resource consent.

You pay an application deposit when you apply for a resource consent. Applications may not be processed until the deposit is paid. A schedule of deposit charges is included in this brochure. Depending on the type of resource consent, the application deposit covers advertising (notified only), administration, and routine investigation.

We assess your application for accuracy and completeness, according to the Resource Management Act and Horizons Regional Council's regional plans. We aim to ensure the resource consent decision is legally and environmentally sound.

Staff involved in this assessment include:
Administrators - who deal with the daily running of the consent process.
Planners - who deal with the legal requirements.
Scientists - who assess possible environmental effects of activities.
Field staff - who understand the Region's specific environmental needs.
Consultants - contracted to work on Council's behalf.

Sometimes we need to investigate the application further. We may need to ask you for more information. In this case, additional reasonable costs may be charged.

As a general rule the deposit does not cover the total costs of processing your application, especially the costs of pre-hearings or hearings. Any additional charges will be itemised when you receive notice of the decision made on your application, unless your application goes to a Hearing. In that situation a separate decision on processing costs is released 15 days after the Hearing decision is released.

A graded scale has been introduced this year with an incentive for discharge to land.

• discharges to land of volumes of below 100 cubic metres per day have decreased between $71 - $122
• Discharges to water of volumes of below 100 cubic meteres per day haveincreased between $77 - $202
• Discharges to water of volumes greater than 100 cubic meteres per day have increased by $126
• discharges to landfills irrespective of type or quantity have increased by $126

This research is essential for our many regional organizations, farms and other industries, all of which are dependant on this information. Further, the findings enable us to continue to provide communities and users with ongoing services, including water for recreational use, clean drinking water and a safe habitat for native fish.

Therefore, by maintaining and further developing knowledge of our region’s natural resources, the interests of the consent holder, the needs of the wider regional community and the resource itself are all protected.

The Resource Management Act allows Horizons Regional Council to charge resource consent applicants for actual and reasonable costs in relation to processing the application. We have no legal power to charge submitters. Additional charges over and above the deposit paid are invoiced when a decision is made on your application.

Deposits
Non Notified $500.00
Notified $1,000.00
(excludes GST)

Administration Charge $210.00
(excludes GST)
Staff charges per hour:
Group Manager $125.00
Consents Manager* $95.00
Team Leaders $95.00
Area Engineers $104.00
Senior Policy or Scientist $100.00
Senior Consents Planner* $90.00
Consents Planner/Reporting Officer $85.00
Consents Administrator* $80.00
(excludes GST)

* Note: Consents staff charges include a component to cover time spent on quality control, peer review and advice, and administration for applicants and submitters while an application is in process.

Other charges can include:

advertising
laboratory costs
mileage
independent reporting
pre-hearings
document preparation and circulation
hearing committee time
These charges remain in effect until 30 June 2007.

Council has determined that consent holders receive some private benefit from the research that is carried out: Whereas the separately charged individual consent fee covers the costs of monitoring a holder's individual consent, the science and research charges contribute towards the costs incurred by Horizons in researching and identifying the cumulative impact on our environment of all such activites across our region. Information gained from this research can also be used by applicants during the resource consent application process.

This research is essential for our many regional organizations, farms and other industries, all of which are dependant on this information. Further, the findings enable us to continue to provide communities and users with ongoing services, including water for recreational use, clean drinking water and a safe habitat for native fish. Therfore, by maintaining and further developing knowledge of our region's natural resources, the interests of the consent holder, the needs of the wider regional community and the resource itself are all protected

Research and Monitoring Charges - All holders of water permits, discharge permits and gravel extraction Resource Consents pay an annual charge. For water takes and discharges the charge is invoiced annually, while gravel monitoring charges are invoiced quarterly.

These are charged on a per cubic metre of extraction or discharge basis depending on what is specified in the individual Consent. This revenue contributes to Horizons' scientific research into the effect of consented activities on water quality and quantity, and gravel resources.

Resource Consent Monitoring Charges - If your Consent states monitoring is required, you will incur this charge for each inspection. Costs are invoiced after the inspection and sent with the monitoring report.

These charges are levied when a Horizons Environmental Compliance Officer visits and inspects the activity covered by the Consent. The amount of the inspection fee is based on the type of activity. Twenty percent of the cost of monitoring a Resource Consent that is complying is covered by all ratepayers through the General Rate; however if the activity is not complying, 100% of the cost is charged to the Consent Holder. Because all ratepayers benefit from a healthy environment and a strong economy, it is considered fair everyone contribute to monitoring complying Consents.

these charges relate to resource consents that are held by consent holders and include charges for both research and compliance monitoring.

There will be a covering letter, which will contain two sections;

. Compliance charges (relating to consents for discharges, water takes and land use)

. Research charges ( see FAQs on water quality and quantity)

Depending on the nature of the consented activity, one or both parts of the letter may be applicable.

Prior to this annual charge, consent holders paid either a fixed charge for monitoring or were invoiced for actual time assessing returns or reports.

Council has determined through the Annual Plan process, that consent holders pay this annual fee which contributes 70% of the cost of monitoring consent holders' individual consent resource consents. The remaining 30% is funded from the general rate.

The fee is $258 + gst for each consent. Should a consent holder have more than one consent for the same activity on the same property, then the fee is $258 + gst for the first consent then $65 + gst for every consent thereafter.

For compliance monitoring, Consent Holders who comply with their consent condtions will not receive any further monitoring charges beyond this s36 Annual Charge.

However if the consent conditions are not complied with, there will be additional charges relating to the non compliance beyond this s36 annual Charge. These non-compliance will be invoiced at the time of the non-compliance. The cost of a non-compliance (failure to provide records or increase is discharge volumes) is $600 + gst and a significant non-compliance is $1200 + gst (unauthorised discharge to water, breaching chemical parameters in discarges or over abstraction of water)

The s36 charges are levied each year unless the consent is cancelled or expires. These charges are annual charges.

For the compliance monitoring charge, Consent Holders who comply with their consent conditions will not receive any further monitoring charges beyond this s36 Annual Charge.

However if the consent conditions are not complied, with there will be additional charges relating to the non compliance beyond s36 Annual Charge. These non-compliances will be invoiced at the time of the non-compliance. The cost of a non-compliance (failure to provide records or increase is discharge volumes) is $600 and a significant non-compliance is $1200 (unauthorised discharge to water, breaching chemical parameters in discharges or over abstraction of water)

Resource Consent Application Processing charges are invoiced when a decision is made on the Consent application.

· Research and Monitoring Charges for water takes and discharges will be sent to you annually.

· Research and Monitoring Charges for gravel takes will be sent to you quarterly.

· Resource Consent Monitoring Charges are sent to you after each inspection.

The Compliance Team and staff from other sectins of Horizons Regional Council carry out extensive monitoring of:

. District Council, farm and industry water discharges.

. District Council, farm and industry abstractions,

.Monitoring land use actives (vegetation clearance and gravel extractions), and inspecting and assessing data and reporting on the results.

Monitoring of your consent to determine compliance may include:

. site inspections (these may be tri or bi-annual, annual or more frequently if required),

.assessing daily or monthly water and gravel abstraction data,

.assessment of formal reports sent in by consent holders (quarterly or annually), and

.assessing resource consents activities in response to public complaints.

This monitoring ensures that resource consent conditions are being complied with and also

.supports fair distribution of the limited water resources throughout our Region,

.ensures land use activities are being undertaken in a sustainable manner, and

.the potential for environmental impacts from discharges are minimised.

General queries about the Science and Research charge itself

eg "Why has this Science and Research charge been introduced?"

Reception/call centre (freephone 0508 800 800) then transterred to the Scientists cordless duty phone (Ext 815) staffed by Harold Barnett, Ralene Hurndell, Kate McArthur, Fleur Maseyk or Jon Roygard

.General queries about the Compliance Monitoring charge itself

eg "Why has this Compliance Monitoring charge been introduced?"

Reception/call centre (freephone 0580 800 800 then transfer to the Pollution Hotline)

.Questions about the invoice

eg "I need more time to pay" Reception/call centre (freephone 0508 800 800) then transfer to Accounts (Ebonee Tane)

Questions related to the actual Consent

eg "I no longer own this property/Consent." Reception /call centre (freephone 0508 800 800) then transfer to the Consents moblie.

Check
with us that you have provided the correct details on your application before you lodge it. Get it right the first time.

Complete
applications thoroughly. If there is something left out, we may have to write to you for more information or spend time researching, which can add to the costs.

Consult
with and get approval from affected parties. These may include your neighbours, iwi groups, and special interest groups. If this is not done, then your application could be publicly notified and submissions made against it.

Resource Consent Holders are able to transfer their Consents. This is usually done when properties are changing ownership and the new owner wishes to continue with the activity authorised by the Resource Consent.

The Consent Holder will remain liable for the Consent until such time that Horizons Regional Council has received and processed the request for a transfer.

The transfer of Resource Consent must be done in writing to the Regional Council and/or by completing the Transfer Form for Resource Consent. The transfer form must be completed and signed by both parties.
There is no fee for this transaction.

Transfer forms can be obtained from our office or they can be downloaded from our website.

We offer a Resource Consent advisory service. Call us on freephone 0508 800 800 and ask our Consents Staff for advice and information on obligations under the Resource Management Act. We can explain the resource consent process, charges and any associated costs.

In 1999 Horizons Regional Council gained an international quality assurance standard (ISO9002 accreditation) for our resource consent processing.