Applications for resource consent are best lodged by a planner that you have engaged early in the process. The planner will iron out any issues with the Council and normally pave the way so you won’t get any surprises or repeated requests for further information before the Council can make a decision on the application.

When an application for resource consent is notified (to the general public or to only a limited number of affected parties), and there is at least one submission opposing it, the Council will allocate a hearing for the application. Less complicated applications are usually heard by councillors while the Council usually appoints independent hearing commissioners to determine the more complicated ones.

Before the hearing, the Council’s reporting planner will provide a recommendation to the panel as to whether the application should be approved or not and if approved, what conditions should be imposed. The reporting planner’s recommendation must be provided at least 15 working days before the hearing and will of course be subject to any new or further evidence that comes to light at the hearing. The applicant must provide its evidence at least 10 working days before the hearing and the submitters must provide any expert evidence at least 5 working days before the hearing.

A hearing is then held. The panel will hear first from the applicant, secondly from the submitters and lastly from the Council staff involved in the application process. This is the Council’s opportunity to say whether its recommendation has changed in light of the evidence that has come out at the hearing. Once the hearing is closed, it is usual for the applicant to be able to file further submissions dealing with any issues that arose during the course of the hearing. The panel will then, following receipt of those submissions, close the hearing. Once the hearing is closed, the panel must provide a decision within 15 working days. If a decision is not provided by that time, the applicant is entitled to a reduction in the fees otherwise payable for the application. Thankfully, this does not happen very frequently.

Once the decision is issued, (and subject to a few exceptions which are currently under review by the new government) any party to the process has the right to appeal the decision to the Environment Court. This must be done within 15 working days of the date of the decision. The Environment Court is then seized of the matter and the hearing process will generally have to repeat itself all over again. A key difference however, is that the Environment Court does have the ability to award costs against parties. Thus if an appeal really has no merit the appellant is likely to face an award of costs.

Accordingly, the resource consent process can be a long and expensive one. Good legal and planning advice at an early stage will allow you to make decisions on an informed basis knowing the risks of proceeding with a proposal. Meaningful consultation with affected parties cannot be underestimated. If agreement can be reached a hearing can be avoided. Even if you do not end up in agreement, you will identify the key barriers in obtaining the consent sought.

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For expert advice contact our Resource Management Team today.

If you own more than a hectare of forest planted for commercial purposes you need to comply with the new national environmental standards which came into effect on 1 May 2018.

The goal of the regulations – the National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry (NES-PF) – is to set minimum standards for commercial forestry operations. These apply across the board, irrespective of what area of NZ you operate in, however councils will be able to impose more stringent rules as considered appropriate in their areas of jurisdiction.

The NES-PF cover eight core plantation forestry activities in any forest larger than one hectare that has been planted for commercial purposes and harvest. Those activities are: afforestation; pruning and thinning-to-waste; earthworks; river crossings; forest quarrying; harvesting; mechanical land preparation and replanting. The effects of forestry activities occurring outside the particular forest are generally not covered and existing regional and district plan rules will continue to govern those.

Examples of what the new standards require are:

• for afforestation to be undertaken without resource consent, various conditions are required including setbacks for tree planting from rivers, lakes, wetlands, coastal areas and significant natural areas.
• for harvesting to be undertaken without resource consent, foresters must submit a harvest plan to their local council if requested. The plan must identify environmental risks including susceptibility to erosion and must list the mitigation proposed to respond to those risks.
• for earthworks to be undertaken without resource consent, foresters must install and maintain stormwater and sediment control measures.

The regulations are based on what is considered to be existing good practice standards for the forestry industry. For the most part the NES-PF represent a raising of the environmental standards for forestry operations.

It is therefore important that when considering undertaking any one of the eight activities, you refer to the NES-PF and make sure what you propose complies with those standards. If what you propose does not comply, you will need resource consent for that activity to be considered lawful.
The area is ripe for confusion, particularly at the outset. However, there are three online tools that can help you determine when consent will be needed. The Wilding Tree Risk Calculator, the Erosion Susceptibility Classification and the Fish Spawning Calculator to identify disturbance to waterways while fish are spawning. These tools can be found at www.mpi.govt.nz/growing-andharvesting/forestry/national-environmental-standars-for-plantation-forestry.

The intent of the NES-PF is to provide national standards that will protect address the risks of forestry activities and protect sensitive environments. Afforestation of highly erodible land will require resource consent and predictably more strict conditions than currently to prevent environmental damage. It is difficult to assess whether the recent events in Marahau and Tolaga Bay would have had any different outcomes if the standards had applied to those operations but the NES-PF certainly intend a different outcome in the future.

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Contact our Resource Management Team today to discuss how we can assist you.