Simplified deposits for consent services

When you apply for a resource consent, you need to pay the costs that are involved in assessing and processing your application.

There are costs whether your application is granted or declined. Some costs are fixed at the beginning of the processing, but for most applications we have set deposits. When being charged deposits, applicants at the end of processing still need to pay any extra based on the actual work done. Where the actual processing cost is lower than the deposit, a refund may be provided.

What does this proposal look like?

Instead of having 19 different deposits, we’re proposing to have only four regardless of activity (e.g. water or land use consent) or risk level (e.g. risk of the activity negatively affecting the environment):

• $5,000 deposit for one consent

• $7,500 for two consents

• $10,000 for three or more consents, and

• $3,500 for residential on-site wastewater system consent.

An improved service

These proposed changes will provide certainty for applicants by making the cost more transparent and make it less likely that they will receive a larger-than-expected invoice at the end of their application process.

If we implement these changes, the final processing cost would remain the same. If we do not implement these changes there will continue to be confusion for some customers and more administration time needed for staff, which in turn adds cost.