What's a resource consent?

A resource consent comes with a very important responsibility: it requires you to consider the effects of your resource use on the environment and your community, and to reduce any effects that are significant.

The video below makes it easy to understand what's involved in a resource consent.

A resource consent is different from a building consent, which you’ll need if you’re constructing, altering, demolishing or removing a building. For some activities you may also need resource consent from the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

The process for granting a resource consent is governed by our District Plan and the Resource Management Act 1991.

The types of consent

Hutt City Council manages two main types of resource consent:

• Land use consent.
• Subdivision consent.

Land use consent

A land use consent relates to a specific property and covers:

• new buildings and additions and alterations to buildings
• a change in activities on a property
• land modifications, such as earthworks.

Subdivision consent

Subdivision consents apply to activities such as:

• creating a new freehold title, which means the landowner (and any of their beneficiaries) owns the property outright
• creating a cross-lease, which is where a number of people own an undivided share in the ownership of a piece of land, and the homes they build on the land are leased from the other landowners
• creating a unit title development, where the owners own a defined part of the building, such as an apartment, and share ownership in common areas such as lifts, lobbies and driveways
• adjusting a boundary.

Find out more about the requirements for subdivision consents.

Find out when which activities require resource consent.

Find out whether your activity needs a resource consent.