Changes to Fees and Charges

Resource consent fees are set to cover the time it takes council staff and other experts to process applications. Some applications are more complex than others, so it can be difficult to assess a total cost up front. Instead, we charge an instalment fee (sometimes known as a lodgement fee). This is followed by a final ‘wash-up’ invoice, once the consent decision has been made, to cover any outstanding costs.

We are proposing to increase the initial payment to be more in line with actual charges currently invoiced for an application. This will reduce the amount of additional invoices and manage expectations of final costs. We are also proposing to adjust fees for hourly processing to align hourly rates with current market rates for planners' services as well as introduce a fee for Engineering Plan Approval (EPA).

Currently, we offer a free half hour session for pre-application meetings and concept development meetings for developers. Multiple professionals are often involved in these meetings including planners, principle planners, engineers, asset managers, and roading engineers. Therefore we are also proposing to introduce a charge for these meetings.

We are proposing to introduce fees for the supply of thermometers, additional food control plan documents, and additional national programme document packs. This is to ensure necessary equipment is on hand and cover printing costs for requested additional documentation should it be requested.

We are proposing to remove the fixed fee for building applications as it does not reflect the actual cost as each building consent application differs in complexity. Instead we are proposing to introduce hourly processing fees which will better reflect the actual time required to process consents. 

We are also proposing to remove the Environmental health license fee for chritable organisations as it is not applicable, as well as the duplicated non-applicable mobile shop, stall, hawkers, alfresco dining and tour operators’ license fee. We are proposing to remove the fee for applications for keeping animals, poultry and bees, and entertainment premises as the associated bylaws have been revoked. And, due to changes in Taumata Arowai regulations, we are removing the fee for providing standpipes because providing standpipes is now illegal.

The following fees have been changed to ‘actual costs’ to reflect the time taken to process each application: 

• Building consent hourly processing fee (as above)
• Vehicle crossing application and inspection fee

Due to a clerical error in the Annual Plan 2022/23, we are proposing to increase the fee for oversize double depth interments to allow for the additional costs associated.