Resource consent application fixed and additional charges
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council recovers the cost of many of its Resource Management Act functions, including processing resource consent applications, by way of charges to applicants and consent holders.
Consent costs include all costs incurred in assessing a consent application, including the cost of staff time, contractors, scientists, councillors, and commissioners.
Council uses a combination of fixed charges (deposits) and additional charges for consent processing, and annual fixed charges thereafter.
During the draft annual plan consultation period (April each year), the public has an opportunity to share their views on plans and funding, including these charges, so that Council can consider submissions before making a decision.
Council has set a fixed charge at the three stages of the application process to make the costs clear:
- Fixed charge payable upon application.
- Fixed charge payable prior to notification (if required).
- Fixed charge payable 5 working days before the start of a hearing (if required).
If any fixed charge is not paid by the due date, then Council reserves the right to stop processing the application (under s36(7) of the Resource Management Act). This may include the cancellation of a hearing. The applicant will be charged for any costs that may arise from the cancellation or postponement of a hearing due to the non-payment of a fixed charge.
Each application will incur processing costs for administration, assessment and the preparation of recommendations to a decision-maker. The exact time required time will vary from application to application. Additional charges will apply when the fixed charges are insufficient to cover these processing costs. It is difficult to accurately predict the staff time required to process each application. However, if statutory time frames are not met, discounts will be given.
Staff time is charged using this formula:
Charge = staff time (hours) x staff charge-out rate + consultant/ commissioner time, including disbursements.
The following list gives an indication of some of the additional work that may be required on some (but not all) applications:
- Discussions with affected and interested parties.
- Administrative time.
- Travel to, and time spent at, the application site.
- Preparation of application for public notification and identification of potentially affected parties.
- Actual costs for hiring technical/legal experts to provide input into the consents process.
- Actual hearing costs.
(Part 3/page 28 current annual plan) Where consultants are used to provide technical input, and the use is occasioned by the application, the applicant will be responsible for their costs (as per RMA, s36). Note: ‘occasioned’ has a specific legal meaning in terms of the legislation. Where the use of consultants has not been occasioned by an application (for example, where workloads are such that inhouse expertise exists but is unavailable), the applicant will be charged at a rate no greater than Council’s in-house staff.
| Charge out rates (excl GST) use to calculate actual costs |
Per hour |
| Executive |
$118.97 |
| Asset management |
$90.70 |
| Environmental science |
$85.75 |
| Consent processing |
$105.00 |
| Resource consent administration |
$75.00 |
| Management input into resource consent processing including attendance at hearings and during deliberations |
$115.00 |
| Compliance and impact monitoring of consents |
$96.00 |
| Environmental information |
$67.01 |
If you consider that any additional charges invoiced after the processing of your application are not actual, or are unreasonable, you have the right to object. Objections (in writing) must be received by Council within 15 working of receipt of the invoice. An objection cannot be made with respect to any fixed charge.
Annual Consent Charges
Compliance monitoring ensures that you meet the conditions of your consent, which in turn safeguards our environment. Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is the statutory body under the Resource Management Act required to carry out this regulatory function.
Monitoring costs cover services such as:
- Providing information and guidance about your consent.
- Providing systems to capture and store consent data, and maintaining records.
- Ensuring compliance with the conditions of your consent.
- Administration of consent monitoring charges.
- Implementing new government regulations.
Full compliance charges are available in the current annual plan, part 3 page 29, at Council offices, public libraries or here.
| Monitoring Water Measuring Devices Table 2a from current annual plan |
Excl GST |
| Sampling time (sampling analysis will be at cost - see Table 4) |
$94.00 |
| Water use returns & audits - telemetered, web/text entry |
$175.00 |
| Each additional water measuring device |
$30.00 |
| Water use returns & audits - fax/email/standard mail |
$215.00 |
| Each additional water measuring device |
$63.00 |
| Where water measuring devices do not meet Council's approved devices criteria or are not installed by an approved installer, a full compliance audit will be undertaken |
$329.00 |
| Non exercised consent |
$80.00 |
These annual charges (shown in the table below) apply to each individual consent that requires a water measuring device to be fitted and for information to be reported back to Council.
This annual charge relates to ‘zone-based’ science work that looks at the cumulative effects of consented activities. This includes collecting information needed to manage the freshwater resource on a regional scale.
This work is an important part of the Regional Council’s responsibilities under the RMA to identify issues requiring action, either now or in the future.
Science monitoring work includes the measurement of river flows and groundwater levels, recording groundwater and surface water quality, as well as tracking the ecosystem health of streams and lakes. Investigation work looks at how surface water and groundwater interact, identifies contaminant sources and predicts system responses to changes in land use.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council uses a dual approach (variable and fixed) to recover 35% of the total costs of this work directly from consent holders (the consent charge):
- 80% of the consent charge relating to work undertaken in your particular zone is divided amongst consents located in that zone. This is the ‘variable’ part of your bill, so that in years when more work is done in your zone this charge will be larger and in years when less work is done, the charge will be smaller.
- 20% of the consent charge (the fixed part) is recovered by a charge allocated equally to every consent in the region. Because of the way these charges are calculated, the charge will
be different each year
For holders of consents to take water where the abstraction is subject to low flow limits (directly or via gallery intake or wells), the cost of monitoring the low flows will be recovered for each water take subject to low flow restrictions. A charge of $175 per consent (excl GST) applies each year.
All charges are billed directly to the legal holder of the resource consent. If a consent holder wishes to pass on any charge to a third party (such as a lessee) this is a private agreement in which Council will not be involved.
Charges payable in advance are due when the application is lodged. All other charges are payable on the 20th of the month following date of invoice.
You can pay consent invoices:
- In person at council offices at 159 Dalton Street, Napier.
- By internet banking (BNZ - 02 0700 030 2819 00).
- Online here.
To pay a fixed fee deposit for lodging a consent application online, contact the Consents Advisor on 0800 108 838 to gain a reference before making the payment.
A resource consent is not ‘tied’ to a property: a consent is a legal document owned by an individual or an entity. As such, a sale of a property does not mean the consent automatically changes hands. If you have sold your property and do not want to retain responsibility for the consent, you need to transfer the consent, either at time of sale and purchase, or as soon as possible afterwards.
Consents do not have to be held by the land owner. Any person can apply for consent on any property. Consent does not guarantee land access.
If the activity is no longer being carried out, such as a discharge or water take, then the consent holder can surrender the consent by writing to the Council and quoting the consent number. It is IMPORTANT to note that if the consent is surrendered and you wish to “get it back”, this will be considered as a new consent application and the granting of that application is not guaranteed.
Find more information on the Water Science Charges here.
You can find full details of the Council’s accounting policies and resource management charges, in the current Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Annual Plan 2011/12 here.
There are also copies at all Hawke’s Bay public libraries, and at council offices. If you need a copy to be mailed to you please contact Executive Assistant p (06) 833 8046 or 0800 108 838, email info@hbrc.govt.nz.
For all consent enquiries contact: Consents Advisor, 06 835 9200 or 0800 108 838