Executive Summary

Key findings of the 2007/2008 survey

Resource consent application processing

Close to 52,000 resource consent applications were processed through to a decision. The majority of these (61 per cent) related to land use. Over two-thirds of the applications were processed by territorial authorities. These results are consistent with earlier surveys.

As in past years, the large majority of consent applications were non-notified. However, the proportion of consent applications notified in some way (ie, notified or limited notified applications) was the highest in 10 years, at 6.7 per cent. Increasing notification by unitary authorities has largely caused this change.

Further information was requested for 43 per cent of all consent applications, an increase from 32 per cent in the last survey. This continues an overall increasing trend.

The use of pre-hearing meetings to resolve issues dropped compared to the last survey, but the success of these meetings increased, with a third of the meetings resolving issues so that a hearing was not needed.

As in earlier surveys, local authority officers made the majority (85 per cent) of consent decisions. However, there was a notable increase in the proportion of decisions made by independent commissioners.

Less than 1 per cent of all consent applications were declined, slightly up on the last survey but similar to past years. The proportion of consent decisions appealed (1.4 per cent) and objected to (2.0 per cent) both increased compared to the last survey.

Changes to consent conditions continued to increase, with 45 per cent more changes processed than in the last survey and three times more than in 1999/2000.

Timeliness

Fewer resource consent applications were processed on time in 2007/2008 than at any other time in the past 10 years, with 69 per cent of applications processed within statutory time limits. However, the proportion of subdivision consent applications processed on time increased, and unitary authorities also improved their performance from 2005/2006.

The proportion of applications that had processing timeframes extended has increased nine-fold in 10 years. In 2007/2008, 28 per cent of consent applications processed had their time limits extended by section 37, an increase from the last survey (17 per cent).

Charges

Some charges for processing resource consent applications increased from 2005/2006 to 2007/2008, while others decreased.

Higher charges were reported for non-notified consent applications processed by regional councils/unitary authorities, and for notified and limited notified consent applications processed by territorial authorities.

Lower charges were reported for limited notified consent applications processed by regional councils/unitary authorities, and for non-notified consent applications processed by territorial authorities.

Good practice

Overall, a similar proportion of local authorities employed good practice methodologies as in the last survey. This includes having mechanisms in place to ensure:

• environmental effects associated with consent applications were adequately identified and assessed

• affected parties were correctly identified.

Improvements were reported for the proportion of local authorities that:

• formally monitor and report their consent application processing performance

• conduct customer satisfaction surveys.

Monitoring, compliance, complaints and enforcement

Monitoring of consents has improved: 79 per cent of consents that required monitoring were monitored, compared to 59 per cent in 2005/2006. Of the monitored consents, 84 per cent were compliant with their conditions. These are the highest results over the past nine years.

Complaints about alleged breaches of the RMA continue to increase, with 47 per cent more complaints received in 2007/2008 than in the last survey. Complaints and breaches are increasingly resolved by formal methods, with an associated drop in resolution by informal methods.

Māori participation

Overall, the proportion of local authorities with processes and systems in place to facilitate iwi/hapū participation in RMA processes was similar to the last survey.

Improved performance was reported for funding of iwi/hapū participation, although the proportion of local authorities with formal agreements with iwi/hapū dropped from the last survey. There was a corresponding increase in informal agreements.

Plan changes and variations

Overall, the number of changes to operative district or regional plans increased. A total of 176 changes were initiated by local authorities, up from 127 in 2005/2006, while 41 changes were initiated by private individuals, more than double the last survey. The number of variations to proposed plans was similar to the last survey.

Next survey

The tenth Resource Management Act: Two-yearly Survey of Local Authorities will cover the 2010/2011 financial year, a year later than originally scheduled. By delaying the survey in this way, the Ministry intends the next survey to capture the effects of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill, which is due to come into effect later this year.