Resource consent pre-application meetings

Who needs to attend

You and/or your agent (usually a planner, surveyor or architect) will meet with a Council planner who will give detailed feedback on your project. The meeting may also involve other Council specialists – for example, a traffic engineer, heritage advisor or urban design advisor.

Before the meeting

To get the most out of the meeting:

• send us your plans and any relevant documents at least 3 days before the meeting
• email us beforehand to let us know who you're bringing with you, and if there are any particular issues you’d like to discuss.

We may talk to you about whether we need to invite other Council specialists to attend the meeting – for example, an urban designer, traffic engineer or heritage advisor. This is to make sure we can answer your questions and identify any issues or concerns early on.

At the meeting

You can bring your advisors (for example, planning, traffic, surveying) with you to the meeting.

During the meeting, we will advise:

• the District Plan rules that are likely to be triggered
• which other Council approvals are likely to be required
• if any specialist reports are likely to be required for your application
• key areas to focus on in your application.

You'll also get feedback on the design of your proposal – as well as feedback from a resource consent planner, this can include feedback from urban design, heritage, traffic, geotechnical and/or noise experts.

We cannot advise at the meeting if your resource consent:

• will be approved
• needs to be notified
• has any affected parties.

After the meeting

We'll email you a record of what we discussed, usually within 5 working days of the meeting.

So we can provide consistent, high-quality guidance, a second planner will peer review our advice before we send it to you.

Please note:

• if you change your proposal after the pre-application meeting, our advice may no longer apply
• while we try to keep this a confidential process, we may have to disclose information you provide to us if another person requests it under the Local Government and Official Information and Meetings Act 1987
• the advice we give you is not legally binding
• you can make your application at any stage, even if there are  unresolved matters from the meeting.

Register for a pre-application meeting

You'll need to include:

• the names of any advisors you want to bring with you
• information about your proposal – for example site photos, a location plan, drawings or plans, or any reports you have commissioned
• any particular issues you'd like to discuss.

We'll contact you within 3 working days to organise the meeting.