Community consultation
What is consultation?
Consultation involves talking to the people who may be affected by the activity you are planning. This can include your neighbours, local Māori, environmental groups, other users of the resource and the Department of Conservation.
Consultation involves finding out and listening to concerns about your proposal. You then need to consider ways your proposal may be changed to meet such concerns.
Why consult?
In most cases, consultation will help in the smooth processing of a resource consent application.
Taking the time to consult before we receive your application can save you time and money. It can help avoid the need for pre-hearing meetings, hearings and appeals.
In your application, you need to include details of the groups you have talked to and the result of those discussions. If you don’t provide evidence of consultation with your application, we may return your application and ask for more details. Otherwise the Council may ask your permission to talk to the affected parties. If this is the case, you will be charged for staff time and any other expenses.
Who should I consult?
If you are unsure who to consult, contact us for advice. As a guide, it is wise to consider the following groups:
- Neighbouring landowners
- Other users of the resource - for example, downstream users of a river you wish to take water from
- Iwi groups and local Māori (tāngata whenua)
- The Department of Conservation
- Environmental groups
- Anyone else who is likely to be affected by your project.
The consultation process
Talk to Council staff about the amount of consultation you will need to do.
Make contact with the people or organisations you wish to consult with. The best way to start is with a phone call, followed up by a personal visit.
Keep a record of your consultation - who you talked to, the date, topics discussed and any decisions made. Include any information that will help in presenting your application to the Regional Council.
Include the outcome of any consultation in your application. Remember to include:
- the concerns of the people or groups you talked to;
- your response to their concerns; and
- how you plan to meet those concerns in your proposal.
If at any stage through the process you require advice, feel free to contact Regional Council staff.