Consent fees and charges
Note: New fees and charges come into effect from 1 July 2025, so any applications lodged from that day onwards will be affected by these changes. Any applications lodged before 1 July 2025 will be charged at the old fees and charges until the application is complete. This includes any additional applications received as a result of s91 requests made after 1 July 2025.
Our resource consent charging system is based on the principle of ‘user pays’. This means that if your activity requires consent, you will pay the costs of assessing and monitoring the consent, as well as maintaining any necessary records related to that activity.
We set our fees and charges each year during our annual and long-term planning processes. The most recent review of charges was completed in June 2025.
For resource consent fees and charges in effect from 1 July 2025, download and read our current Fees and Charges Schedule (PDF file, 319.61KB). View previous fees and charges (PDF file, 948.55KB) for any applications lodged before 1 July 2025.
Understanding costs
When you apply for your resource consent, you will need to pay the costs involved in assessing and processing your application including our pre-application service. These costs will be charged whether your application is granted, declined or withdrawn.
Some types of applications have a fixed, non-refundable fee, but most applications are charged on an ‘actual and reasonable costs’ basis. In those cases, we ask for a deposit (also known as an initial fixed fee) once your application has been accepted for processing. This happens as part of Section 88 under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) review.
Once your application has been granted, declined or withdrawn, and the actual and reasonable costs incurred by us exceed the deposit, you will be invoiced for the balance. This can include incurred costs associated with pre-applications, the processing of your application, withdrawal, annulment, and returned applications.
Summary of fees and charges
Below is a summary of fees and charges for resource consent applications or compliance monitoring. All fees and charges are inclusive of GST at the rate of 15 per cent.
Staff services and hourly charge-out rates
- Where applicable, staff time is charged on the basis of actual time spent. Charges are calculated using the following charge formula:
- Processing fee = (staff hours x hourly charge) + (external processing consultant hours x hourly charge) + disbursements (eg laboratory analysis) + travel (where applicable).
- If our staff are unavailable for whatever reason and we use an external consultant, then we will charge our staff's hourly rate.
- If we use a consultant for any other circumstance, the consultant’s rate is charged to the applicant.
| Staff type and/or service | Per hour (from 1 July 2025) |
|---|---|
| River Operations Labourer | $71.30 |
| Customer Services Advisory Officer/Administration Officer | $105.00 |
| Consent Administration Officer | $127.72 |
| River Operations Supervisor | $115.00 |
| Building Consent Authority Coordinator | $120.00 |
| River Operations Engineer | $120.75 |
| Any warranted officer carrying out compliance monitoring and incident response activities/Land Management and Biodiversity officers | $166.75 |
| Consent Planning/Consent Hearing Officer | $189.47 |
| Specialist (other than consent advice)/Senior warranted officer carrying out compliance monitoring and incident response activities/Management Officer/Senior Land Management and Biodiversity officers | $184.00 |
| Senior Consent Planner/Specialist (consent advice)/ Consent Management Officer | $206.72 |
| River Operations Principal Engineer | $184.00 |
| Overseer (external) | $241.22 |
| Senior/Executive Leadership Team Member | $295.00 |
Fixed fees
These fees are non-refundable.
| Fee type | Fee (from 1 July 2025) |
|---|---|
| Certificate of Existing Use | $650.00 |
| Returned application | $590 (per application**) |
| Partial surrender of a resource consent | $390.00 |
| Partial transfer of a water permit or discharge permit | $459.50 |
| Full transfer of a resource consent (Notice of transfer) | $180.00 |
| Direct Decision Pathway* application | $3,500.00 |
* A fixed fee for Direct Decision Pathway applications includes all major costs associated with processing a resource consent application (administration fee, technical review and consent planning). If the Direct Decision Pathway application is subsequently notified, additional notification and hearing-related fees apply.
Use of the direct decision fixed fee is entirely at the discretion of the Council. It depends on a number of factors, including the quality of the application and the scale and significance of the activity for which consent is being sought. For more information on what makes a quality resource consent application, read our guidance notes on Guidance for resource management practitioners page.
** If an application covers multiple permits, we charge the returned application fee for each separate activity in the proposal.
Deposits
A deposit (also called an initial fixed fee) acts as an initial upfront minimum payment. In instances where the total cost of processing an application (or completing a compliance monitoring activity) exceeds the deposit, additional charge(s) will be made to recover the actual and reasonable costs incurred (Section 36(5) of the RMA).
For applications lodged from 1 July 2025 onwards and charged a deposit, if the processing costs are less than the deposit paid, a credit note will be issued where the amount exceeds $25.00 + GST. A refund will be provided upon request, provided there are no outstanding balances on the consent holder’s account.
Please note, to cover the work required to assess the application under Section 88 of the RMA, a returned application fee will still apply if an application is deemed incomplete and processing cannot proceed. See the above table for details on the fee.
| Fee type | Fee (from 1 July 2025) |
|---|---|
| Discharge residential on-site domestic wastewater | $3,500.00 |
| Single consent (any other activity) | $5,000.00 |
| Two consents (any other activity) | $7,500.00 |
| More than two consents (any other activity) | $10,000.00 |
| Certificate of Compliance | $1,500.00 |
| Change of conditions | $3,500.00 |
| Notice of Deemed Permitted Activity | $1,000.00 |
| Bore consent | $2,500.00 |
| Resource consent review | $1,265.00 |
Notification and hearing-related fees
Notified applications will call for submissions and may require a hearing. Because of the costs associated with a notified application, further fixed fees are required and must be paid by the stipulated date. If the hearing further fixed fee is not paid, then processing of the application may cease until it is.
Note you may incur additional costs such as for additional days of scheduled hearings, technical and independent reviewers and commissioners.
Breakdown of additional costs
| Fee type | Fee (from 1 July 2025) |
|---|---|
| Fee to notify application | $1,150.00 |
| Hearing of consent application - First day of hearing per consent application | $11,500.00 |
| Plus additional days of scheduled hearing based on the following calculation: $7360 x number of additional hearing days x number of commissioners / number of activities for consent | Variable |
Cost recovery under the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024
Section 104 of the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024 allows regional councils to recover actual and reasonable costs incurred in consulting and assisting the applicant before the application is lodged (whether or not the application is subsequently lodged).
When an application is lodged, reimbursement of the actual and reasonable costs incurred by us in performing or exercising council functions, duties and powers in relation to the application will be sought from the EPA, which is provided with mechanisms for cost recovery by the Act.
Section 108 of the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024 also provides for the setting of fees, charges and contributions in relation to any regulations set under that Act.
Section 108 prescribes the mechanisms by which this may be done.
Charges for services are set out in the staff services and hourly charge-out rates table above.
Compliance monitoring charges and fees
The basis for the compliance monitoring charges is the actual and reasonable cost and expenses of carrying out compliance monitoring work and work related to responding to permitted activity breaches or pollution events. View Staff services and hourly charge-out rates. The cost is invoiced to the relevant party.
For water consents, you will need to pay an associated annual charge as part of ongoing maintenance and monitoring of consents. You’ll need to pay this charge from the time your consent is granted until your consent either expires or you have surrendered it. You are required to pay annual charges even if you are not physically exercising your consent.
| Description | Fee (from 1 July 2025) |
|---|---|
| Annual water consent compliance fixed fee for receiving, verifying, recording and maintaining of water use data | $230.00 (per water permit per year) |
| To carry out compliance monitoring and administration requirements of a bore installation | $83.38 (per bore to a maximum of five bores*) |
* If the installation is for more than five bores, an additional charge will be payable for staff time, disbursements (e.g., laboratory analysis) and travel (where applicable).
Charges associated with pre-application advice
We offer a pre-application service to help ensure your application includes all the relevant information before you lodge it. The first hour of our pre-application advice service is free of charge. After the first hour, we will charge for this service. We will always advise you before we start charging for application advice.
The staff charge-out rates (after the first free hour) are listed in Staff services and hourly charge-out rates.
Objection to charges
As per our Fees and Charges Procedures and Guidelines, you cannot object to fixed fees. You can only object to charges where the processing costs of your application exceed the deposit after the consent process is complete. Where the final invoice exceeds the deposit, only then can the objection be made on the additional actual and reasonable charges.
View the 'Assessment of your application' page for information on the types of objections to our decisions.
Discounts
The Discount Regulations set a default discount policy for resource consents that are not processed within statutory timeframes. If your application is not processed within statutory timeframes, a discount will be identified and applied accordingly in line with the Discount Regulations.
The Discount Regulations set out a discount of 1% for each working day an application is processed over the statutory timeframes specified in the RMA, up to a maximum of 50 working days (for example 50 per cent).
The Discount Regulations apply to the processing of most resource consent applications or applications to change consent conditions. They do not apply to the following:
- applications to extend consent lapsing periods (RMA section 125)
- consent reviews (RMA section 128)
- certificates of compliance (RMA section 139)
- replacement consent applications when applications are processed before the expiry of a resource consent RMA - Discount on Administrative Charges
- when an applicant withdraws a resource consent application RMA (Discount on Administrative Charges.
Payment
Visit our Lodge your consent page for information on different payment methods.