This note has been updated for 2017 and 2020 amendments but not updated for best practice.
The receipt of an application is the first important step in the resource consent process, which starts the statutory 'clock' ticking. Section 88 and Schedule 4 of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) state what information an application and supporting Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE) must contain to be considered complete and therefore acceptable to be processed. The RMA includes comprehensive information requirements in Schedule 4 and 10 working day timeframe to assess the application to determine whether it is complete or return it as incomplete. These requirements reflect the importance of councils only accepting complete applications to avoid delays in the long run.
This guidance note provides guidance for consent lodgement, pre-acceptance completeness checks, incomplete applications, receiving applications, and how to formally notify applicants of the receipt of their application
