What happens once I've applied for a resource consent?

If you don't supply all of the information

If your application is missing information, we can:

• reject the application and return it within five working days
• put your application on hold and ask you to provide more information. You must either provide the information, or write to us agreeing or refusing to provide the information, within 15 working days of the date of our request. If you refuse to provide the information but ask us to proceed anyway, this may affect how we treat your application in step 2 below.

If you do supply all of the information we need

If we’re confident that your application has all the information we need, we'll get the processing underway. To do this we:

1. Calculate your application fee which needs to be paid at the same time as you lodge your application.
2. Send you an invoice that includes payment options.
3. Prepare a report on your application and decide whether it should be notified. This decision depends on:

• • the type of resource consent you’ve applied for
  • the effects of your proposal (no effects, minor effects or its effects are more than minor)
  • whether you have written approvals from affected parties
  • what the District Plan says about the notification of your proposed activity.

Notification options

Our notification options are:

Non-notified 

We don't require your application to be notified because either there are no effects or the effects are minor, and where relevant you've got written approvals from the affected parties.

Limited notified

We write to any affected parties you don’t have written approval from and invite them to make submissions on your application. They have 20 working days from the day they receive our letter to make a submission.

Fully notified

If we consider that the effects of your proposal are significant enough to invite the wider public to make submissions, we call for submissions by:

• putting a public notice in Hutt News and/or the Dominion Post, after which anyone can make a written submission (PDF 114 kb) within the following 20 working days
• sending letters to any affected parties who haven’t approved your proposal, such as your immediate neighbours, Greater Wellington Regional Council, the Hutt Valley District Health Board and residents’ associations
• putting a sign on your property for as long as your application is being notified.

You’re also entitled to ask us to fully notify your application.

If your application is limited or fully notified and:

• there are no submissions and we support your application or have already negotiated conditions with you, we approve the application
• we receive submissions and/or don’t support your application, we give 10 working days’ notice that we will hold a ‘hearing’. Find out what happens at a hearing.

Once your application has been approved, we let you know and provide you with a copy of our decision. Find out what you can do if you’re not happy with our decision.