Find out what giving written approval means, what your options are, and what to do next.
You may be asked for your written approval before an application is submitted to Council. It’s your responsibility to understand what effect the proposed activity will have on you and your property.
An applicant, or someone acting on their behalf, is entitled to contact you in person for your written approval. You have the right to question the proposed activity and to seek further information about the resource consent process, and the right to withhold your written approval if you are not comfortable.
Your neighbour could also be seeking your written approval for a boundary infringement that may allow them to progress through a ‘deemed permitted boundary activity’ process, avoiding the need for full resource consent.
Before you decide
If you provide your written approval, the effects on you and your property will be disregarded when the resource consent application is considered by Council.
You should seek independent advice if you are not sure whether you should give your written approval to the proposal. Council can only provide information on the resource consent process, not on whether you should provide approval.
An applicant may seek your approval as an affected person; however, the Council will make its own determination about who are the affected parties as part of the resource consent process. In the same way, people and organisations may have an interest in an application, but this does not automatically mean they are an affected party.
Applicants may choose to consult widely to smooth the processing of their application. An application can still be submitted if approval has not been sought or received from potentially affected persons.
If we consider you adversely affected by a resource consent application, we will tell the applicant. The applicant is then responsible for seeking your written approval. If you do not provide approval and Council notifies the application, we will send you the details and give you the opportunity to make a submission.
If you support the proposal
To give your approval, sign the written approval of affected persons form and the application plans. You may also choose to sign the assessment of environmental effects, plans attached and any supplementary reports provided by the applicant.
The applicant should show you all these documents. Ask the applicant for a copy of the signed documents and keep them so you know what you are agreeing to.
Your approval of the proposal must be unconditional. This means you can’t state that your approval is subject to certain actions being undertaken by the applicant.
Not supporting the proposal
You are within your rights to not give your approval. You do not need to give reasons and there is no set timeframe to decide.
If an applicant gives you a date to respond by, this is usually for their convenience and it is not a Council deadline. If you need more time to consider the proposal ask for it. An applicant may still choose to submit the application despite not having your written approval.
If Council has notified the application, you will have 20 working days to make a submission.
Submission forms
Can I change my mind?
You can change your mind at any point after giving written approval, as long as Council has not already decided on the resource consent. Please confirm your withdrawal of approval in writing to us as soon as possible, as we may then need to notify the application.
Can I ask for the proposal to be changed?
You are entitled to discuss the application with the applicant and seek possible solutions to any concerns you may have. The applicant may be willing to negotiate and change their proposal to reduce its impact on you.
Council only accepts unconditional approval from affected persons so you cannot make changes to the proposed activity by giving conditional or partial approval. Any changes to the proposal must be incorporated into the plans and application.
Private agreements outside the scope of the resource consent application are sometimes entered into. These are private contracts that Council cannot monitor or enforce.