Week 4 - Land

Landuse Consent- The term 'landuse' covers:

• Any activity done on the land, e.g. retail, horticulture, vegetation removal building, additions and alterations to buildings, and controls on buildings and structures.
• Land modification such as earthworks.
• The use of land also includes development on, under or over the beds of streams, rivers and lakes. This includes, for instance: constructing, using, or demolishing any structure such as a bridge or jetty.
• Depositing any material or disturbing the river, stream or lake bed introducing any plant into a body of water.
• Normally a land use consent is granted for unlimited duration, as long as the development detailed in the consent has been implemented to a significant level within five years (or a different period as written in the consent). If not, your consent will lapse.
• Any land use consent that is granted is attached to the property (as opposed to a specific person).

Although land-use consent are often associated with district/city councils, consents for earthworks may also be required from regional councils

Please follow this link to find an AUC doc on residential standards which is useful for planning houses in the Auckland region.

You may also need to consider whether or not you may need a tree consent.  If a tree on your property is protected, you will need a resource consent to remove it, prune it, or carry out construction work near it (Auckland Council, n.d)

You may need to check any rules around trees on a property before you start work for which you can follow this link for more information, see trees - check before you chop.