Before you carry out an activity or make changes to your property it is important to check whether you are permitted to do so under the Tauranga City Plan. We provide a free Duty Planner service where you can speak to one of our planners.
Planning
We've listed examples of activities that may require a resource consent below. Sometimes an activity requires more than one resource consent. Regional councils issue consents for some land uses activities which may also be applicable for your project.
- Subdividing your land
- Changing the type of activity or business operating on a site
- Buildings or structures close to your boundary
- Establishing additional dwellings
Duty Planner Service
Due to the increasing number of duty planning enquiries and staff availability to respond, please be aware that we cannot answer all of the queries in our standard response time. All enquiries will be logged, and we will respond in the order of the enquiry. Thanks for your understanding.
Our duty planners are equipped to provide direction on the City Plan and what rules may apply to you to ensure you have a good understanding of what needs to be done before you submit your resource consent application. The duty planner advice is a free service for the first hour. Once responding to or addressing an enquiry exceeds the first free hour, the service will be charged at actual cost based on the relevant staff members hourly rate in accordance with Council’s fees and charges schedule.
We encourage you to contact our Duty Planner using our online enquiry form.
Duty Planner enquiry form
Our Duty Planner can provide advice on:
- relevant City Plan rules;
- zoning of the property;
- resource Consenting process;
- notification process and written approvals;
- matters you may want to consider when making an application.
The Duty Planner cannot provide advice on the following matters:
- how to design your proposal;
- compliance check on plans;
- whether a proposal will be notified;
- whether a proposal will be granted or not.
If you would like advice on these matters, you can contact a planning consultant who can provide project specific advice and how an application could be made.
Once you have spoken to the Duty Planner and you understand the rules that apply to your site, you can plan your project in detail.
Pre-application service
We offer pre-application advice for projects that need resource consent. We provide you with information and guidance to ensure you have a good understanding of what needs to be done, before you submit your application.
A pre-application meeting will confirm the following:
- whether you have identified all the relevant rules applicable to your application, based on the information you have provided at the time;
- an indication of what specialist reports are required;
- confirmation of what deposit fee is required upon lodgment of the application;
- explaining the general resource consent process and the statutory timeframes;
- identifying the minimum information requirements that need to accompany the application;
- discussion about people and properties possibly affected by your proposal.
A pre-application meeting is an opportunity for you to present your proposal to Council and may involve the relevant specialists reviewing your proposal and mitigation measures to address any non-compliances prior to lodging an application.
A non-refundable fee will apply to all requests for a pre-application advice. Refer to Council's Fees and Charges Schedule. This fee provides for up to three hours of planner's time (review of supplied documents, attending meeting (if required)). Any additional technical expertise requested/required for the pre-application meeting will be on-charged at the prescribed hourly rate; as will any planners' time additional to the three hours provided for within the initial fee.
In order to enquire whether a pre-application meeting is the appropriate contact with Council please fill out the Pre-application meeting request form and submit the form along with the following information:
- description of the proposal;
- site plan;
- relevant Tauranga City Plan Rules;
- relevant Tauranga City Council Infrastructure Development Code matters;
- reasons why you consider the proposal to be acceptable.
Pre-application meeting request (223kb pdf)
Providing this level of information upfront can save substantial time and money in the long run.
The provision of this information prior to a meeting enables all relevant council specialists time to review the information, discuss across departments and run any modelling that might be required. This will equip Council to be able to engage in a two-way constructive discussion at the meeting. You will receive clearer direction from Council and enable you to address any major concerns before submitting your application. This will result in a smoother resource consenting process and fewer or no further information requests.
Lodging an Application
Please ensure you provide sufficient information for Council’s Planning Officers to consider your proposal, as this can delay the processing of your application. If your application has missing information, it will be returned to you advising what additional information is required.
As well as completing the application form, you are required to include the following:
- relevant development plans.
- a recent Record of Title (less than three (3) months old).
- an Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE).
An assessment of environmental effects (AEE) is a key component of a resource consent application. An AEE considers the environmental effects created by your proposal, particularly the adverse effects created by the non-compliances. AEEs vary in size depending on the number, scale, and type of non-compliances in your proposal. The requirements for an AEE are set out in the Resource Management Act 1991 under Schedule 4.
If you are making multiple resource consent applications about the same project, lodge them all together. This will ensure that all environmental effects are considered at one time.
Once your application is complete, lodge it with us for processing.
Staff only carry out site visits once an application has been formally lodged
Specialist reports
Depending on your application, you may need a report from a professional. For example, if landscaping is an issue for your project, you might need a landscape architect to prepare a report describing the effects of your project in landscape terms, or if you are in a flood zone, you may need to work with a civil engineer.
The more detailed and accurate the information you provide us, the more quickly and efficiently we can process your application. If you need help, contact our Duty Planner using our online enquiry form.
Duty Planner enquiry form
If you require further professional advice about your application, you can contact: