Along with the accompanying letter, it will tell you:

• The conditions the council requires you to comply with when you carry out your activity, and may include administrative or monitoring charges
• The reasons for the council's decision
• Whether you or the council needs to monitor the environmental effects of the activity
• Whether your consent has a lapse date

When you first receive your resource consent, it is important that you read and understand it. Please speak to Customer Services at Environment Canterbury to clarify any points that you do not fully understand.

It is the consent holder’s responsibility to ensure that all legal requirements are met before carrying out an activity. This means checking for compliance with other Acts, regulations and bylaws or rules of law. If you have any doubts you should seek legal advice.

In addition you may need to take further action if:

• You do not own land you require access to, and therefore require approval from the landowner. For riverbeds, the landowner is not necessarily the Crown and may include the Department of Conservation, private land owners, or adjoining landowners.
• You are undertaking high country burning, and therefore may need to obtain permission from the Rural Fire Authority, the Commissioner of Lands or the Department of Conservation.
• You are building a large structure, such as a dam or bridge, and therefore may need a consent under the Building Act.
• You are undertaking an activity which requires a local territorial authority consent under Transitional and/or Proposed District Plans

Conditions

A resource consent imposes conditions which control the way an activity is carried out; these are designed to maintain and protect Canterbury’s natural resources for other users, both now and in the future. It is the consent holder’s responsibility to adhere to the conditions of the consent. He or she risks enforcement action by Environment Canterbury if they do not.

Duration

Resource consents issued by Environment Canterbury have a maximum duration of up to 35 years; some specific types of consent have shorter standard durations. If you wish to carry out an activity beyond an expiry date, you need to apply for a replacement consent. You cannot apply for an extension to an expiry date, as this cannot be changed.

Lapse dates

The activity authorised by the consent must usually be started within 5 years of the date of issue, or before the lapse date specified in the conditions of the consent, if applicable. If the activity does not occur within this time frame, the consent will lapse and no longer be valid. An extension to the lapsing period can be requested, which must be applied for in writing at least 3 months before the lapse date.

If your consent specifies a lapse date, you must inform Environment Canterbury in writing when you actually start the activity. If you fail to do this, your consent will expire on the lapse date and no longer be valid.

Exercising of resource consent

Once the activity has commenced, the consent is valid through to its specified expiry date, unless the activity is discontinued for 5 years, in which case the consent may be cancelled. You may be asked to complete and return an ‘Exercising of Resource Consent’ form when you first start using your consent, even if it is replacing a previous consent for the same activity. If you are required to complete this form, it will be included in your Resource Consent pack.

Minor errors in your document

If you consider there are minor errors or defects in your resource consent document, you need to inform Environment Canterbury within 15 working days of the grant and request that the corrections to the decision can be made. If the error is more substantial and may have influenced the decision made on your consent, further action may need to be taken.

Disagreeing with the decision

The applicant can object or appeal (where the application has been processed without notification) if they disagree with the decision that has been made. This must be lodged in writing within 15 working days of receiving the decision.

If you formally object, a hearing will be arranged to decide your objection. Objections are decided by either an external decision maker or by staff delegated with the role to decide. You can still appeal to the Environment Court if you do not agree with the decision following an objection.

Both the applicant and any submitter to a notified application can appeal. Any appeal must be made within 15 working days.

Disagreeing with the final invoice

An objection can be made to any additional charges, but not to the fixed deposit which is paid when you first submit your application. If you wish to object, you must do so in writing within 15 working days of receiving an invoice from Environment Canterbury. Any decision made by Environment Canterbury regarding an objection may be further appealed to the Environment Court.

Refunding a charge in full or part is known as a remission. You may seek a remission if you believe that the charge is unlawful, unreasonable, or in excess of the actual cost of the work undertaken by Environment Canterbury. An application for a remission must be made in writing and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Change of address

Please inform Environment Canterbury immediately if you change address. You should provide any resource consent numbers in your correspondence to ensure that records are up to date, and inform us if any additional consents require transfer or surrender.
Change of address form (pdf 19 kB)