Council taking action to improve consenting timeframes

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Published: 24 March 2022

Lower Hutt, like many places across the country, is experiencing high population growth. This has resulted in a significant increase in housing development across the city, and with it, a rise in the number of consents.  Last year we had a record number of resource consent applications which was 50 per cent more than the previous year.

There are a large number of urban development projects underway and planned to address growth in our city. We are seeing more medium density housing developments in Lower Hutt which means an increase in the number of consent applications and these are often more complex.

Against this backdrop, we have experienced longer processing timeframes in the application process, meaning that in some instances we may not meet the statutory timeframe. We have been clear with the Lower Hutt community about the delays in processing times and have information on our website, as well as regularly liaising with developers.

More can always be done, and we want to work in partnership with the development community on how we can address these challenges.  We have extended an invitation to planners, architects, surveyors and engineers across the city to attend sessions to discuss ways of making this process easier and more efficient for everyone. These sessions will begin from 4 April 2022.

For more information on processing delays, please visit the following pages on our website: