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Having resource consent from the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council means you have been allowed access to use a shared, natural resource such as water, air, land, or the coast.
The consent process considers what effects on the environment may result from allowing access to these resources and make sure that any known effects can be addressed.
The consent process ensures that anyone planning new developments, such as housing or business, has thought about the impact on the environment and other resource users, and takes precautions to ensure that resources are not damaged or overused.
The Regional Council is responsible for managing and allocating the use of natural resources in the Hawke’s Bay environment.
As part of this responsibility, the Regional Council must comply with regulations and standards imposed by central government as well as planning regional rules that everyone must abide by.
The regional rules (which consents are assessed against) are contained in the Regional Resource Management Plan (RRMP) and Regional Coastal Environment Plan (RCEP) which have been developed with public consultation. The Resource Management Act (RMA) also applies when assessing consents.
Where a regional rule states that you must have consent to perform an activity (such as taking water for irrigation, building a structure on the coast or discharging contaminates to land), then you must apply to Council for consent. If consent is not needed, there may still be some conditions surrounding performing your activity.
When consent is needed and you apply for it, Council must assess your application against the RRMP, RCEP and the RMA. Some consents are more straightforward than others, while some will require agreement from other people or groups, such as the Department of Conservation, Fish and Game, tangata whenua or affected members of the public.
As a consent holder, you will have ongoing contact with Council even after the granting of consent.
The Regional Council has a responsibility to monitor your consented activities to make sure that there are no adverse effects on the environment, and check that you are complying with the conditions of the consent.
Council staff are always available to discuss your individual circumstances and advise of your ongoing consenting requirements.
Consents do not have to be held by the landowner. Any person can apply for consent for an activity on any property. Gaining resource consent does not guarantee land access. It is common for lessees to hold consents on properties they do not own – for example for irrigation water takes on leased properties.
If you are not sure who should hold your consent, please contact us to discuss the options with Council’s Consents Advisor.
If you are granted consent, you are issued with a legal consent document. This document contains all the important dates and conditions that you need to know and comply with.
Issue date
This is the date that you have been granted consent on, and it is typically on the front page of the consent document under the signature. From this date through to your expiry date you are authorised to carry out your activity in accordance with the conditions.
Expiry date
This is the date that your consent ends. This date is typically on the front page of the consent document under the heading ‘Consent Duration’. Once your consent has expired, if you have not applied to replace it (applications have to be received by Council 6 months prior to expiry), it no longer exists and the activity cannot legally continue. This is a useful date to diary. You can download you replacment application form here.
Lapse date
This is the date that states if you have not used the consent it will end. You can think of this date as a kind of “use it or lose it” date. This date is typically on the front page of your consent document under the heading ‘Lapsing Of Consent‘. Where no date is specified, the consent will lapse 5 years after the date of issue. The purpose of this date is to encourage efficiency by ensuring that access to resources is not allocated to those who are not using it. If you anticipate that you will not use your consent before it lapses, you can apply for an extension of the lapse date here.
Review dates
These are the dates when Council can review the conditions of your consent for any of the reasons specified in the consent document. This date is in the body of the consent document typically under the heading ‘Review of Consent Conditions by Council’ and is usually a month of the year such as “May of any year”.
Please keep your legal document in a secure place and regularly check that you are fully aware of the conditions.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has a number of staff members who work with consent holders in different areas or parts of the consent cycle.
Consents Advisors / Consents Officers
When you are applying for resource consent you may meet with the Consents Advisor to discuss your needs and fill in application forms. Once you submit an application, it will be managed by a Consent officer who will work with you throughout the consent application process.
Compliance Officers
When you have been granted resource consent, you may be contacted by Council’s Compliance Team. This team has the responsibility of checking that individuals comply with the conditions of their consents. Your consent will be assigned a specific compliance officer, and you can contact them any time to discuss a compliance issue. It is best to discuss any problems with the team before an issue escalates. Our pollution response team can also help you contain any pollution spills or contaminate discharges, you can contact them on 0800 108 838 anytime.
Water Information Services (WIS)
Water take consent holders may speak with the Water Information Services team to discuss water metering requirements, approved meter installers and the best methods to return your water use data to Council. The Water Initiatives Group can also let you know if there are any water user groups in your area and better ways to increase your irrigation efficiency.
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Comply with All Conditions
Once you are granted consent you become a legal consent holder. This means that you are responsible for meeting the conditions Council imposes on your activity. It is your responsibility to read through the consent document that Council sends you and ensure you comply with all the conditions.
Pay all Relevant Charges
As the consent holder you also have the responsibility of paying the annual charges for your consent. Full descriptions of these charges are detailed in the “Consent charges Guide” which is available here, or by contacting Council’s Consents Advisor. You will also be invoiced for the costs of consent processing and compliance officer visits.
Keep the Council Updated About Address or Activity Changes
You are responsible for the “upkeep” of the consent. This means that if the activity changes for example, if you want to change any of the consent conditions (maximum volumes, crop type, irrigated area or discharge area) you must notify Council using the appropriate form. You must also advise us formally if your address or company name changes. The forms are on our website and the Consents Advisor can assist you in selecting the correct form.
Apply for Changes in Writing
The Regional Council cannot make changes to your legal consent document without an application from you, even if you have previously discussed the change with Council staff. To make a change, you need to make a written application, most application forms can be found here.
The details that Council holds for resource consents are only those provided by you when you made your application. If we have the wrong name, address, or area details, this will likely be from the original application and if you have changed details later on, we weren’t updated.
The Regional Council cannot make a change to your consent without a written application from you. So it is important you keep Council up to date with any changes - if you don’t tell us, we won’t know. You can contact the Consents Advisor to talk about how to update any of your consent or contact details.
Resource consents are not ‘tied’ to a property. Consents are legal documents owned by an individual or an entity. If you sell your property or subdivide land, this does not mean the consent automatically changes hands. If you have sold your property and do not want to retain ownership or responsibility for the consent, you need to transfer the consent, either at time of sale and purchase, or as soon as possible afterwards. Transfer forms can be found here or from Council offices.
There are two options for consent ownership if you own property and lease the land out. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, and it is up to you to decide which option best suits your needs.
The first option is for the consent to be held by you as the land owner - if you hold the consent, you retain all responsibility for the consent. This means that you will receive all correspondence and invoices relating to your consent. It is also your responsibility to ensure your lessee is complying with the conditions of your consent (make sure they have a copy of the consent conditions). The advantage to this option is that if your leasee moves on, they cannot take the water with them by transferring it away from your property or surrendering the consent.
As the holder of resource consent you will be responsible for all charges relating to your consent; if you want to have a private agreement in place with your lessee requiring them to pay any charges, Council would recommend that you cement this in your lease agreement. Council does not get involved in any private agreements with your leasee, as such we will not send copies of correspondence or invoices to lessees directly.
The second option is for the lessee to hold the consent. Where a lessee holds consent, all correspondence and invoices are sent to them directly as the legal consent holder. This means that they are responsible for paying any consent invoices and for compliance with the consent conditions. The disadvantage to property owners of this option is that, if the lessee chooses, they can apply to transfer the water off your property or surrender the consent, which could leave the property without consent.
You are welcome to discuss these options in full with Councils Consents Advisor if you are unsure who should hold your consent Contact us.
If your consented activity is no longer being carried out, you can surrender the consent by filling in Council’s surrender form here. It is IMPORTANT to note that once consent is surrendered, if you wish to “get it back”, you will need to make a new consent application and the granting of that application is not guaranteed. This is particularly the case in fully allocated water catchments, or where there are known effects of an activity.
Annual charges do still apply to consents which are not being used. This is because Council must undertake work based on what you are legally entitled to do under your consent, even if you are not using it. Find out more about consent charges here.
If you have not used your consent before the lapse date, your consent will cease to exist, unless you apply for an extension here. You can discuss this with your Compliance Officer or a Consents Advisor.
There are various application costs, annual costs and monitoring costs involved with applying for and then holding resource consent. It is important that you understand these charges so that they do not come as a surprise when invoice(s) arrive.
We have a guide to all these charges which new applicants are sent. Find out more about consent charges here, or contact the Consents Advisor for a copy.
If you would like to have your say on these charges, you can do so by making a submission to the annual plan each year. Once charges are fixed in the annual plan, no-one can influence a change to these charges outside of the annual plan process.
You can make general consent enquiries with the Consents Advisor on 0800 108 838. If you hold consent you can also ask to talk with your Compliance Officer.