Week 1 - RMA

1.6. The Process

Fundamentally, any activity may require a resource consent and/or be subject to standards (e.g you can build a road providing you have sufficient soil and erosion control).

The first step in this process for civil engineers is to determine the type of consent required by asking local council.

This is closely followed by determining how a consent may be met and which may include a multidisciplinary approach  involving an assessment of environmental effects (AEE).  The AEE will be discussed in detail in the following chapters.

If an application for a consent is rejected, an appeal can be lodged through the Environment Court which is an independent body.

Part 3 of the RMA, lists the duties and restrictions and these can be grouped according to this course as either Earth, Air or Water. 

Once the type of resource consent has been established, mitigation against the adverse effects of the activity needs to be provided.  There are Australian and New Zealand standards available (at a cost) which can guide you or you can find solutions in the technical papers provided by the councils, e.g GD01 from Auckland council provide solutions for stormwater management.   Alternatively, consultancies are available but at a greater cost still.