A resource consent means any of the following:[6]
Application process[edit]
Applications for resource consents are usually granted by the regional councils and territorial authorities acting as consent authorities. Any person may apply for a resource consent.[8] Applications must be in the prescribed form and include an assessment of environmental effects.[9] The resource consent process is designed to enable environmental managers to consider environmental issues associated with particular proposals for resource use.[10]
While this principle is commendable, there is a complexity of issues that surround assessing the effects on the environment of a consent application and the consideration of applications (e.g. social, cultural, and ecological considerations, significance of effects, the place of community values, the sufficiency of evidence and the onus of proof).
A resource consent may be granted with a set of conditions that need to be complied with in order to ensure minimal environmental effect.[11]
Appeals[edit]
Decisions on resource consent applications may be appealed [12] to the Environment Court (formerly the Planning Tribunal until 1993). Appeals are considered on a 'de novo' basis, where the Environment Court hears any evidence it requires and makes its own decision which replaces that of the local authority.[13] Decisions of the Environment Court may only be appealed to the High Court of New Zealand on a point of law.[14]
Statistics[edit]
Of New Zealand's regional councils and unitary authorities, Canterbury Regional Council receives and processes the most applications for resource consents. In the year ended 30 June 2006, Canterbury Regional Council processed 3,381 applications, more than double the number processed by any other consent authority. Environment Waikato had the next highest number; 1,384 applications in 2006.[15]
One of the major complaints (mainly raised by corporations) regarding the resource consent process has been that submissions made in opposition against a project can be made by any entity, even if it is not affected. This has, in the opinion of the critics, caused the resource consent process to be used as an anti-competitive and anti-investment tool by which both individuals and other corporations can stop projects while appearing to act in the common interest. The true motivation of such submissions and associated appeals, it is alleged, is trade competition, a factor which is expressly not to be considered when testing the merits of a resource consent application.[16]
Other criticisms include:
Some commentators consider that the requirement for resource consents is slowing or preventing the construction of large infrastructure projects, such as highways, roads, wind farms and other power generation plants, which are important to New Zealand's economic wellbeing, as well as adding to the cost of such projects.