What is a resource consent?
A resource consent gives you permission to carry out an activity that is not allowed as of right in the District Plan, and may affect the environment. We are governed by the Resource Management Act.
Find out if you need a resource consent
Check our District Plan to find out if your project needs a resource consent.
To help you, we have a resource consent duty planner available between 1pm to 4.30pm every day from Monday to Friday. We want to save you time and worry and our planners will be able to answer general questions about the District Plan or whether resource consent is needed for your project. Simply phone us on (04) 237 5089, or come to our Customer Services Centre at 16 Cobham Court, Porirua.
The first two hours of advice are free.
Pre-application meetings can be arranged by contacting the duty planner as outlined above or via email to [email protected].
For any general enquiries you can contact the Duty Planner as outlined above or via email to [email protected]
For projects involving subdivision or land development with building work, you will need a resource consent for the overall activity and a building consent for the building work.
Explanation of officer rates
Rates are not dependent on the experience level of the processing officer. Applicants are entitled to the same quality and timeliness of service independent of the officer’s experience. Chargeable hours are adjusted downwards accordingly for less experienced staff such that learning and mentoring required is not charged for. It’s not considered equitable to charge a higher rate purely because a more experienced staff member is processing their application when the chargeable time involved in the same.
Recovery time spent on pre-application – discussions, assessment and feedback
Council’s Policy for Administrative Charges under the Resource Management Act 1991 states that advice provided by Council officers prior to an application being received may be charged for after the second hour at the relevant hourly rate that applies for that particular financial year as contained within the Schedule of Administrative Charges under the Resource Management Act 1991.
What you need to know
Our District Plan is governed by the Resource Management Act (RMA).
There are five different types of resource consent. Porirua City issues two types:
- land use
- subdivisions.
Greater Wellington Regional Council issues the other three:
- discharges to air land and water
- coastal permits for coastal and marine area activities.
- water permits for activities involving water taken from streams or bores, or using or diverting rivers, streams, waterways or lakes.
Visit Greater Wellington Regional Council - Resource Consents webpage for more information.
Before you apply
Prepare your application
- Application for resource consent - Form 9 - The checklist at the back of the form tells you everything you will need to provide. Make sure you complete the checklist.
- Earthworks addendum form - For earthworks resource consent
- Affected person's written approval - Form 8a - For neighbours affected by a project
- Application for change or cancellation of resource consent condition - Form 10
You may need a resource management consultant to prepare your application.
Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE) report
Your application will need to include an Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE) report describing the environmental effects of your project.
- Find out how to prepare an AEE.
You can prepare your AEE report yourself or use a consultant.
Silt and sediment control
Silt and sediment are a problem for our harbour. We have guidelines on how you will need to control silt and sediment run off (all in pdf format).
- Small earthworks guidelines booklet
- Silt and Sediment Control Pamphlet
- Silt and Sediment Control Bylaw - Part 24
- Greater Wellington Regional Council's Small Earthworks Guideline Booklet
- Healthy and protected harbour and catchment
Small Building Sites Minimum Erosion and Sediment Control Requirements (particularly relevant to Aotea)
Boundary Activities
The Resource Management Act has been amended on 18 October 2017 to allow for certain infringements on boundaries to not have to go through a standard resource consent application process. Such infringements are known as a ‘Boundary Activity‘ and are applicable in situations where:
- Resource consent is required due to the infringement of one of more 'boundary rules';
- No other District Plan rules are infringed; and
- No infringed boundary is a ‘public boundary’.
Examples of ‘boundary rules’ in the Porirua City District Plan is the ‘Other Yards’ and ‘Height Recession Plane’ Permitted Activity Standards. In situations where the infringement of the ‘boundary rule’ is with a boundary adjoining a public area such as a Road, Neighbourhood Park, or Esplanade Reserve then the proposal cannot be treated as Boundary Activity.
Where a Boundary Activity is applicable then a Permitted Boundary Activity (PBA) can be applied for. As part of your application, certain information will need to be provided and the written approval from each owner of an adjoining allotment with an infringed boundary included. The application form and written approval form which are to be used are below. The information requirements are set out within the form.
Application fee information
In accordance with Section 36AAB(2) of the Resource Management Act 1991, we require an application fee to be paid in order to lodge and process your application.
An invoice will be generated once your resource consent application has been received and will be sent directly to the nominated payer for payment.
Once paid, we will commence processing your application.
Submit your application
Resource consent applications can now be submitted online via the MyPorirua customer portal.
Please note - you will need a verified user account in order to submit your application. The verification process can take up to 2-3 working days to complete and you will be notified once your account is verified. In the meantime - any applications you have started will be saved as Drafts under your login details.
Once you are set up - simply login in to MyPorirua and select Do it online. You will see a range of Resource Consent application forms available. Select the appropriate form, enter the information requested and upload any documents required. As this is not a full application form, you will still need to upload your Form 9 application form and any other documentation to support your application. Once submitted, you can either pay immediately with a credit card or a copy of the application fee invoice be sent to you directly for payment.
Alternatively, if you wish to submit a hard copy of your resource consent application, we require two copies of your application, supporting documents, and originals of all plans.
We’ll go through your checklist, and take your deposit if everything’s in order.
We need three copies of your application, supporting documents, and originals of all plans.
- You can bring your application in person to:
Porirua City Customer Services Centre
16 Cobham Court
Porirua - Or send your application by post or courier to:
PO Box 50218
Porirua 5240
If it hasn’t got everything, we may need to reject it.
You can save time by bringing your application in to us.
Fees – what it will cost
You need to pay an application fee when you submit your application. When we finish processing your application, we will invoice you for any extra costs.
There is an hourly charge for any extra time needed to process an application beyond the value of the application fee. You may also be charged for the time we spend providing advice to you before we receive your application, if it is longer than two hours.
| Hourly charge out rate | |
|---|---|
| Technical processing/advice | 222.00 |
| Administration | 156.00 |
| External specialist advice (note 4) | Actual cost |
| Non-notified resource consents | |
|---|---|
| Minor land use application (note 5) | 1,107.00 |
| All other non-notified land use applications | 2,220.00 |
| Non-notified subdivision applications | 2,220.00 |
|
Non-notified land use and subdivision applications |
3,320.00 |
| Additional (per hour) | 222.00 |
| Notified resource consent and service of notice – fixed | |
|---|---|
|
Limited notified land use application (includes 1 hour of monitoring) |
6,650.00 |
| Limited notified subdivision application | 6,650.00 |
|
Limited notified land use & subdivision applications |
6,650.00 |
| Notified land use application | 13,280.00 |
| Notified subdivision application | 13,280.00 |
| Notified land use and subdivision applications | 13,280.00 |
| Monitoring | |
|---|---|
|
Per inspection (note 6) – including permitted activity monitoring |
222.00 |
| Additional (inspection) | 222.00 |
| Certificate of Compliance | |
|---|---|
| Existing use certificate | 1,107.00 |
| Certificate of Compliance | 1,107.00 |
| Designations and heritage orders | |
|---|---|
| Applications for new designations (note 7) | 11,070.00 |
|
Applications to alter existing designations – s181(2) |
11,070.00 |
|
Applications to alter existing designations – s181(3) |
1,107.00 |
| Consideration of outline plans and waivers | 1,107.00 |
| Extensions to designations | 1,107.00 |
| Removal of designations under s182 (note 8) | 1,107.00 |
| Applications for new heritage orders s189 | 11,070.00 |
|
Applications to alter existing heritage orders – s192 ref to s181(2) |
11,070.00 |
|
Applications to alter existing heritage orders – s192 ref to s181(3) |
1,107.00 |
| Removal of heritage orders – s196 | 1,107.00 |
| Plan changes | |
|---|---|
| Private plan change request deposit – (note 9) | 11,340.00 |
| Others | |
|---|---|
| Section 10 waivers | 222.00 |
| Section 37 waivers | 222.00 |
| Section 125 extensions of time | 665.00 |
| Section 126 cancellation of conditions | 665.00 |
| Section 127 change of conditions | 665.00 |
| Section 128 condition review | 665.00 |
| Section 221 consent notices | 665.00 |
| Section 222 completion certificates | 222.00 |
| Section 223 certificate | 442.00 |
| Section 224 certificate | 885.00 |
| Section 223 and s224(c)/(f) jointly | 1,107.00 |
| Section 225 certificate | 442.00 |
| Section 226 certificate | 222.00 |
| Section 240 cancel covenant | 222.00 |
| Section 241 amalgamation | 222.00 |
| Section 243 certificate | 222.00 |
| Bond preparation and release | 222.00 |
| Section 348 Local Govt Act certification alone | 222.00 |
| Overseas Investment Certificate | 222.00 |
| Removal of building line(s) | 222.00 |
| Permitted Boundary Activity Notice | 665.00 |
|
Activities meeting certain requirements are permitted activities |
665.00 |
|
Signing of easement instruments and other legal documents (note 10) |
222.00 |
| Engineering approval | 664.00 |
| Specific service charges (note 11) | |
|---|---|
|
Hearing commissioner/s (requested by the applicant) |
Actual cost |
|
Hearing commissioner/s (where not requested by the applicant) |
Actual cost |
|
Councillor attendance at hearings for hearings, district plan changes, designations, heritage orders: Chair per hour |
120.00 |
|
Councillor attendance at hearings for hearings, district plan changes, designations, heritage orders: Members per hour |
97.00 |
| Advertising and public notification Road Corridor Access Request (CAR) | Actual cost |
Note 4: Consultant's and legal fees associated with the processing of a consent, certificate, designation, or private plan change (including specialist technical or legal advice); or where a consent involves creating legal instruments, will be charged at cost and recovered in full.
Note 5: Minor land use application means an application for a land-use activity (excluding non-residential activities in the suburban zone) that:
- in the suburban zone, does not comply with the suburban zone permitted activity standards; or
- in the rural zone, is a controlled activity; and
- for which applicants provide evidence of consultation in accordance with the fourth schedule of the Resource Management Act 1991.
Note 6: The monitoring charge becomes payable upon granting of resource consent, and/or confirmation of a requirement for designation. In addition, the Council will recover additional costs from the consent holder for officer time should more than one inspection and associated activities be required, based on the ‘officer time hourly rate’.
Note 7: This charge does not apply to applications for existing designations to be rolled over at a time of plan review.
Note 8: This charge applies to recovering costs associated with removing a designation, or part of a designation, from the District Plan planning maps and text and updating these documents.
Note 9: The full and actual costs of processing any private plan change request shall be recovered. If the Council does not have in-house capacity and or/expertise to assess, process and/or report on all or any part of the private plan change request, it will advise the applicant and seek to engage an appropriate external consultant(s) to fulfil this function. Where this occurs, the Council will advise the applicant of its preferred consultant and any associated quote for costs. Should the applicant choose to proceed with the application, the Council will recover the full actual and reasonable costs of any engaged consultant(s). All private plan change requests will require the payment of an initial deposit.
The initial deposit covers:
- the initial decision to accept or adopt the plan in whole or in part;
- notification and mail-out costs; the processing of submissions;
- the preparation of any officers report; and
- costs associated with hearings and decisions, providing that the deposit only covers the plan change application process to the extent that the additional per hour rate and/or the Council's actual costs are more than deposit, then the additional costs for any engaged consultant(s), do not exceed the deposit. If the Council's actual costs are more than the deposit, then the additional costs shall be recovered in full or as agreed with the applicant.
Important: the Council also retains the right to withhold the public notification of any accepted private plan change and/or the notification of an operative date for any private plan change until all actual costs associated with processing, assessment, reporting and any hearing on the private plan change have been settled and paid in full.
Note 10: The full costs will be charged for the chair and up to two committee members’ involvement (a total of three councillors) in hearings for plan changes and notified resource consents. The level of the charge will be based on the attendance fees for councillors prescribed by legislation, and may include additional time spent by councillors in formal pre-hearing meetings, formal committee deliberations and at formal site inspections as part of a group inspection or as part of a pre-hearing meeting. The costs of councillor involvement in hearings for Council-adopted plan changes; or designations and heritage orders under Part 8 of the Resource Management Act will not be recovered.
Note 11: In accordance with clause 11.6 of the Porirua City Reserves Management Plan, all additional costs (including but not limited to legal, planning and surveying costs) must be met by the applicant.
Code of land development and subdivision engineering
You may also need to refer to the Code of Land Development and Subdivision Engineering . These set out the engineering requirements and standards for subdivisions and other engineering developments within Porirua City’s urban and rural areas.
What happens next
When we receive your resource consent application, we will decide whether other people or organisations need to be consulted about the project. This determines how the application will be processed and how long it will take.
We sort applications into three categories:
- publicly notified –the public need to know about your project
- limited notification –the people affected by your project need to be told about it
- non-notified – It’s not considered to affect others, or if it does, you’ve already gained their written approval.
If your resource consent application needs to be notified, you’ll be told what to do.
Read the RMA guide to consultation for resource consent applicants
You can carry out the consultation yourself or employ a consultant to do it for you.
How long it could take
If your application is straight forward and non-notified (it doesn’t need to involve other people or organisations), it takes up to 20 working days to process from the time we accept it and receive your application fee.
We’ll contact you if we need more information to process your application. The 20-day clock will be paused until we receive what we need.
Notified applications (those that could affect other people or the public) will take longer, to give people time to respond. More time is required if there are submissions or objections to an application and a hearing is needed.
