Before you make an application
If you need help to ensure that you have all the necessary information to submit with your resource consent application, you can get in touch with us to complete a preliminary check. This free service will minimise any delays when we process your application.
This is also a good time to make an appointment to meet with Hutt City Council’s Eco Design Advisor.
Make an application
When you are ready to make an application, you will need to:
- Fill in the following form for a land use or a subdivision consent:
Application for Resource Consent (PDF 105kb)
- Complete an Assessment of Environmental Effects (PDF 40kb) (AEE). This will help us assess the potential impact of what you want to do. We have prepared a form to help you do this if you are planning minor works such as residential additions and alterations. You may wish to hire a resource management professional to assist you with this
- Provide a covering letter outlining what you want to do
- Provide plans of your proposal that are drawn to scale (either 1:100 or 1:200)
- Provide all the following necessary information (if applicable):
- The legal description of the site and street address
- Certificate of Title (no older than three months) and copies of any relevant interests on the title such as consent notices and covenants. You can get a copy at the Consents Counter at the council building when you make your application
- The type, location and size of your proposed activity
- The approval of anyone affected by the proposal (PDF 66kb) (both forms and plans need to be signed)
- Plans of your proposed activity, if a building is involved, including elevations and floor plans
- Features of the site including levels or contours
- An indication of car parking layout and access points
- Details of off-site effects like traffic generation, shadowing, and noise generation
- Details of any consultations that you have had
- Landscaping, fencing, storage areas
Applications will not be accepted until the base fee is paid. There may be further fees to pay once the consent is processed if consultants (e.g. urban designer, landscape architect, heritage architect, traffic engineer) are required or if it is a complicated application.
Submission and assessment of your application
When you are ready to lodge your application, the vetting officer will check it to make sure that you have provided all the necessary information.
Once we receive your application with all the necessary information, we will begin processing the consent.
If we discover that we need further information from you, we will let you or your agent know and suspend processing of your application until we receive this.
Processing of non-notified applications
If we process your consent as a non-notified consent, we have 20 working days to release a decision.
If we decide to make a limited public notification of your application ("limited notified"), we will send a letter to anyone that we think is affected. These people, who will usually include your immediate neighbours, will have 20 working days from the day they receive the letter to make a submission.
Processing of publicly notified applications
If we decide to make a full public notification of your application ("fully notified"), we will:
- Put a public notice in the Hutt News. Anybody may make a submission (PDF 101kb) in writing on your application for 20 working days from the date it appears in the paper. A closing date for submissions is given in the public notice
- Send a letter to anyone who is affected. This usually includes your immediate neighbours and any other bodies we decide are appropriate, such as Greater Wellington Regional Council, Hutt Valley Health, and residents’ associations
- Put up a sign on your property making the application known to local residents for the time it is being notified
Consideration of your application
Once submissions have closed, there are two possible courses of action:
- If there are no submissions and the council supports the application or has already negotiated its conditions with you, no hearing will be required and your application will be approved
- If there are submissions, and/or if the council does not support the application, a hearing will be necessary
Hearing and decision
- If a hearing is to be held, at least 10 working days' notice will be given to everyone involved
- The hearing will be heard by the Hearings Committee of the council.
- Hearings are usually held in the Council Chambers in the council building on Laings Road
- If there are three or more councillors or committee members attending the hearing then a final decision can be made at the hearing and the decision will be announced within 15 working days of the hearing
- If there are fewer than three councillors or committee members attending the hearing, then a recommendation will be made and the decision will be deferred until the next full committee meeting
Appealing a decision
If you are not happy with the decision of the Hearings Committee, then you have 15 working days to appeal this decision from the date that you receive the decision.
You will need to appeal the decision to the Environment Court, using:
Form 7 of the Resource Management Act 1991: Notice of appeal to Environment Court against decision on proposed policy statement or plan from the Ministry of the Environment's website
How long will it take?
If the application is to be non-notified we are required to issue a decision within 20 working days.
If the application is to be limited notified or fully publicly notified then the process may take three months or more, particularly if we receive submissions and a hearing is required.
How much does it cost?
The cost of a resource consent application will depend on whether it is non-notified, limited notified or fully notified. See our fees and charges page.
Once the application has been processed you may have to pay additional fees to cover further costs associated with the application, such as additional processing fees for the resource consent planner’s time or consultants' fees.
The resource consent planners try to let you know if the consent fee is increasing above the base fee, so that you have a warning of extra fees. They will ask you if you are willing to pay consultants' fees before they engage a consultant. (A consultant is an expert who has to look at the proposal; such as an urban designer, a landscape architect, a heritage architect, a traffic engineer, etc.)
There may be Development Contributions and Reserves Contributions charges to pay if you are subdividing the land, which will create new additional lots or additional dwellings.
The Reserves Contributions amount is to up to 7.5% of the value of the new allotment created by the subdivision but there is a maximum of $5000.00 per new rural lot created and $10,000.00 per new residential lot created.
There may also be a Reserve Impact Fee for any activity within the business and commercial areas if the development results in an intensification of use of the land.
If we have not issued a decision within 20 working days of receiving your application, we are required to reimburse 1% of the fee for every working day that the consent takes over the 20 days, up to a maximum of 50% of the application fee.
After you have been issued resource consent
Once consent is granted, you have five years to carry out the work involved.
You are required to notify our monitoring and enforcement officers when you are about to start building work. You can notify us by email at enforcement@huttcity.govt.nz or contact our enforcement team on 04 560 1044.
Resource consents are monitored to make sure that all the conditions of the resource consent are met. A pre-commencement check is carried out when we receive notification that you are about to start the work or within six months of the consent being granted.
If you are found to be not complying with your resource consent, the council has a range of enforcement measures available. These range from a fine of $300.00 up to a criminal prosecution, depending on the severity of the non-compliance.