Getting ready

• Prepare your written statement to read out at the hearing. Decide on the key points you want the panel to hear and include them in your statement. Providing examples of what you are talking about, or photos of the area of concern is often useful to the panel. They may ask for copies of your written statement.
• If you want to use PowerPoint or other software, tell the council before the hearing so they can arrange this.
• Practise your presentation, or reading your statement. You want to get it right and to look confident and comfortable.
• Think about what questions the panel might ask you, and how you can answer them.
• You can present in te reo Māori, but should give reasonable notice beforehand if you wish to do so.

At least 15 working days before the hearing, you’ll get a copy of the council officer’s report about the proposal. This may discuss your submission points. It will make a recommendation on whether these points should be accepted, accepted in part, or rejected.

Read the report before the hearing. See if there is anything you want to talk about in your statement, and change your statement if necessary.

You might also be invited to a pre-hearing meeting. Others who may attend include other submitters, the applicant (for a resource consent or a private plan change), and the council officer who reported on the proposal.

You don’t have to attend, but it can be an informal way to sort out issues before a hearing. You cannot quote matters people have raised at this meeting, unless they raise it when speaking to the hearing panel.

Everyone at the hearing will get a copy of a report on the pre-hearing meeting, including the agreed issues and those that are outstanding. The hearing panel must consider this report in making their decisions.