A resource consent is an important legal document.
When you first receive your resource consent, it is important that you read and understand it.
Ask our staff to clarify anything that you do not fully understand.
Your resource consent will usually have conditions that control the way the activity is carried out. These conditions are designed to maintain and protect Tasman's environment and natural resources.
As a resource consent holder, it is your responsibility to follow all the consent conditions.
If you do not, you risk enforcement action by the Council.
There are also a number of ways you can change or transfer your resource consent.
Under section 125 of the Resource Management Act, a resource consent will lapse five years from the date that it is granted unless it has been 'given effect to'.
In other words, you must start using your consent - start the activity or build the structure - within five years, or it will lapse and you will need to apply for your resource consent again and go through the process again.
This is to ensure that consent holders get on and use their resource consents and so that other people are not taken by surprise when someone suddenly starts operating a resource consent that was granted many years before.
New Zealand Legislation: section 125 of the Resource Management Act.
You can ask for an extended lapse period two ways.
This is a good idea if you do not think that he or she will get around to implementing the consent within the usual five year period.
Once a consent is granted, as a consent holder you can apply to the Council to have the lapse period extended. You cannot do this is the consent has lapsed. If that happened you must reapply for the resource consent.
* Note that some consents are issued with a shorter lapse period. This is to ensure that no-one can use the consenting process to lock up access to a resource. For example bores are normally issued with a twelve month lapse period to ensure the activity is done in a timely manner.
The impact of the activity which is allowed by the consent will be monitored by the Tasman District Council. If extra monitoring and supervision is required because of non-compliance with the conditions of the consent, the costs of doing this will be charged to the consent holder.
Any consent holder may apply to change, add or delete one or more conditions of a resource consent. Such changes are allowed by section 127 of the Resource Management Act. Making a change is called a "variation".
Read section 127 of the Resource Management Act.
There is no hard and fast rule about when a change of conditions may be appropriate versus applying for a new resource consent for the activity. Generally, a new resource consent should be sought to replace your existing resource consent if:
An example of a changes of conditions might be to reduce monitoring requirements under a consent if monitoring done has consistently shown an activity is causing no effects. In this example, the actual activity is not changing as a result of the change of conditions, just the administration of the activity.
If you are unsure, talk to a duty planner.
You must apply to the Council like any other resource consent application. Use the appropriate resource consent application form but make it clear on the form that you are seeking to change one or more conditions. Also be sure to state the details of the resource consent you want to change.
Section 127 of the Resource Management Act says that any change of conditions must be processed as if it were a "discretionary activity". This means that the Council can consider any relevant and reasonable resource management matter in deciding whether to grant or decline an application.
When considering who may be affected and whether your change of conditions should be granted, the Council will consider:
Some consents have an expiry date.
Generally, consents to take water, discharge contaminants or do something in a waterway or the sea will always expire.
The expiry date should be stated in your consent document. The maximum duration of these types of resource consent before they expire is 35 years.
Land use consents (eg build an overheight building or operate a cafe) and reclamation generally do not expire.
The rules for applying expiry dates to consents are in section 123 of the Resource Management Act.
New Zealand Legislation: Section 123 of the Resource Management Act.
Once set, the expiry date of a consent cannot be changed.
If your resource consent has expired you cannot apply to "renew" your consent but you can apply for a "replacement" consent. The application for a replacement consent is processed as a new connsent.
Apply for your replacement consent at least more than six months before your original consent is due to expire. This guarantees you the right to continue your activity until your application is determined, even if your resource consent expires (see section 124 of the Resource Management Act).
Land use consents and subdivision consents 'run with the land' so are automatically transferred to the new owners when the title is sold. The new owners are responsible for the consent and any conditions of the consent that must be met.
All other types of resource consent (water permits, discharge permits, land use consents to do something in a waterway, or coastal permits) must be manually transferred.
To transfer a consent to a new consent holder, fill in the notice of transfer form and send it to the Council along with the fee.
Both parties must sign the form:
If a discharge permit is not transferred to the new owner, the original owner / consent holder may still be liable for any monies, such as annual charges.
If you wish to surrender a resource consent, notify the Tasman District Council using the surrender form.
For example, a resource consent was needed to take and use water stored in constructed ponds, reservoirs and dams. The Council removed this requirement, subject to meeting certain conditions.
If you have a water permit that authorises a take from storage and you believe you no longer need it, you may surrender it (see the forms below). The specific form will guide you through an assessment of whether you now meet the permitted activity rule.
