Fast-track Approvals Act

The Fast-track Approval's Act precludes public consultation and involvement in the processes is strictly limited to a small number of parties, including Council. 

Council is able to provide comments on applications as follows:

1. Views by council officers on technical matters related to Council's community endorsed plans and strategies such as The Spatial Plan and The District Plan and Impacts of Infrastructure Assets to be Vested (or not) in Council.

2. Views from within the community shared with Elected Members (providing these are not contrary to council officers technical comments on alignment with community endorsed plans and strategies).

While council officers are unable to advocate for individual viewpoints or meet with members of the public regarding an application, the community is encouraged to engage with Elected Members so that views can be included (where appropriate) in any Elected Member Statement. 

Council acts as an "affected party", with no decision-making role in the approval processes. Applicants must consult with the Council during both the referral and substantive stages. The Council can recover reasonable consultation costs, including fees for consultants.

The Fast-track Approval Act sets out that Council's involvement, administered by Council officers, as follows: 

• Consultation with the applicant when they request this for either referral of substantive applications.

• For substantive applications only:

  • A completeness check of applications - this is limited to Council confirming that the application has the expected level of information and expert reports for the size and scale of the application and is not an assessment on the merits of the application.

  • Confirmation that no competing resource consents - i.e. would approval of an application under the Act have impact on any already consented development on the application site. 

  • Nomination of a Panel Member for the decision-making panel that meets the experience set out in the legislation, and this can include Elected Members. The central government appointed Panel Convener has the final say on who is appointed to a Panel and sometimes this does not include the nomination from Council.

  • Comment on draft conditions of consent.

• For both referral and substantive applications:

  • Provide formal comments on the application which include officer technical comments and any Elected Member Statements.

Because the application processes are administered by Central Government via the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and the Ministry for the Environment, any public requests for Council's comments on an application should be sought through an Official Information Request (OIA) to those organisations.

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) handles the Substantive Approval Process and the Ministry for the Environment handles the Referral Approval Process. More information is available on the Ministry for the Environment and EPA websites.

The FTAA requires that applicants consult with Council during both the referral and substantive application process. Under the legislation Council is able to recover all fair and reasonable costs of its consultation with applicants, (including that of any consultants used to assist).

Consultation:

To instigate consultation with Council, applicants must submit a consultation application form and associated consultation document (downloadable on our website) via Council’s online portal, along with the following: 

• A detailed proposal description, including plans and location.
• A list of relevant resource consents (approved, declined, lapsed, or pending).
• A list of required permits or licenses from the Council.
• Resource consent requirements triggered by the proposed development.
• Plans for servicing the development (water, wastewater, stormwater, transport).
• Proposed assets to be vested in QLDC.
• Reserve provision or impacts on existing reserves.
• Any landowner agreements (e.g., DoC, LINZ, QLDC).
• Any costs to ratepayers.
• Known natural hazards and management plans.
• Timeline for submission to the EPA.
• Other consultations with agencies, iwi, or landowners.
• Draft conditions (if consulting on a substantive application)

Once submitted, the request will be acknowledged and assigned a council reference number i.e., FTACR (for consultation for the referral process) or FTACS (for consultation for the substantive application process). Information kept by Council under these references is not publicly viewable unless disclosed under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).

Council staff will review the information and schedule a consultation meeting based on availability and the applicant's timeframe for submitting their application to the EPA. Typically, representatives from all relevant departments will be present at consultation meetings.

Following consultation meetings, Council will provide written comments with a focus on relevant areas (e.g., spatial planning, infrastructure, District Plan and reserves).

NOTE: Council does not assess or decide on the application, but instead provides factual feedback on any impacts (positive, negative, or neutral)

Council needs to recover fair and reasonable costs of work required by the Panel Convener or the Panel to ensure there is no burden on ratepayers. Where these costs are not recoverable via the EPA, Council will recover them directly from the applicant as agreed through the consultation process.