the planning process

The following is a general description of the processes only and does not constitute legal advice. Legal advisers and Council officers should be contacted for specific information.

All wind farm developments have to apply for resource consent, unless they meet the Permitted Activity standards of the District Plan. However, it is unlikely that any wind farm development would be considered a Permitted Activity under the current rules of District Plans.

Planning decisions are open to public influence, via the public submission process, if an application is publicly notified. Most consent applications for commercial scale wind farms are likely to be notified. Although it's more common for opponents of a plan to make their voice heard, planners should equally respond to supporters of a scheme. As wind plans have failed due to controversy, it's important that your support for a wind farm is demonstrated, and that you don't leave it to the opposition to influence the planners.

Who makes the planning decision?
When to act
Lobbying the planning officer
What to cover in your letter of support
How to make a written submission
Lobbying councillors
Contacting consultees
Lobbying Members of Parliament
The Consent Hearing
Possible outcomes of the Consent Hearing
Appeals
Call-ins
Offshore wind farms

1. Who makes the planning decisions?
In New Zealand, local government has two layers: regional councils and territorial authorities (district or city councils), with the district/city council making planning decisions. Most district councils are then divided into Ward committees. These bodies don't have any direct influence on planning decisions but may be consulted during the process.

A resource consent application for a wind farm will be considered by a territorial local authority, such as a District or City Council, under the rules of its District Plan. Sometimes a development may involve aspects that require the consent of the Regional Council. For instance, roading development associated with a wind farm may require regional resource consent for the earthworks, or for effects on watercourses.

Whether or not consent is required will depend on the specific rules within the relevant District of Regional Plan. The Minister for the Environment has the power to "call in" applications of national significance. This power has seldom been used within in NZ, and has not been used for any wind farm applications.

Applications are made to a council's planning office and dealt with by a resource consent processing officer. The planning officer will consider an application and make a recommendation to a consent hearings committee with whom the final decision rests. A planning committee is generally made up of three or more councillors. Sometimes a Council may appoint hearing commissioners (external professionals) to consider the application and make a recommendation to Council.

2. When to act
Once an application for resource consent is made, the following statutory deadlines apply to the process:

If the Council feels the application provides sufficient information, and if it is then publicly notified, it must be notified within 10 working days (see below for details of notification)
After that, the public have 20 working days in which to make submissions.
Once submissions have been received a hearing must be held within 25 working days. At the hearing, people who have sent in submissions have the opportunity to appear and speak before the Council (or commissioners).
The Council must issue its decision within 15 working days, and anyone involved in the process (the applicant and submitters) has another 15 working days in which to lodge an appeal to the Environment Court if they disagree with the Council's decision. The appeal process can take some time, but the waiting time for appeals to be heard has decreased.

This leaves very little time to have your say, so it's important to find out about a resource consent as soon as it's made.

If an application is notified, the Council will hold copies of it that are available for the public to inspect. The notification will be advertised in the main local paper. Neighbouring residents will often be individually notified, and signs may be erected near the site advising of the application for consent.

This website will also show up coming developments. By using this site's wind farm proposals map (LINK proposed wind farms map) you can know about a plan sometimes in advance of an application for planning permission being made. This could allow you an opportunity to drum up support in your area, perhaps by forming a local group (LINK starting a local pro wind group 1.7.2) or organising some street campaigns.

3. Contacting the planning officer

To find out which planning officer is dealing with the application contact your local planning office. The simplest way of making your opinion known is to write to the planning officer. Letters should be short, no longer than one side of A4.

Before you write your letter it might be helpful to speak to the planning officer, either in person or over the telephone. They should be able to give you more information, particularly about any objections that have been made to the scheme. This will help you make your letter more relevant and directly address objections that have been made. top

4. What to cover in your letter of support

Counter opponents' objections to the scheme. Only certain subjects are counted as valid grounds for objecting to a plan, so it's only these that must be countered. For example, financial viability of a scheme is not considered to be relevant to a planning decision. Therefore, if opponents of a wind farm are criticising the plan because they mistakenly think that wind power is uneconomical, you needn't tackle this in your letter to the planning officer (although it might be an argument you need to counter elsewhere). By far the most common criticism of wind farm applications is visual impact. As this is quite a subjective consideration it should be easy to voice your support.

It should also be easy to counter other objections. For bigger projects, the wind developer will have to have produced an independent Assessment of Environmental Effects for the plan. This should tackle specific criticisms of the plan such as noise, disruption and tourism. You can also use our FAQs section to rebut more generic criticisms of wind power.
Note to planning officers that wind farm developments are in line with national government plans. The National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy states as a general target an increase of renewable energy supply by a further 22% by 2012. To maximise New Zealand's renewable sources of energy is also one of the desired outcomes of the governmental document "Sustainable Development New Zealand - Program of Action" Draw attention to this in your letter.
Highlight the benefits of the scheme for the local area. Will the wind farm bring jobs or increase tourism in the area? Note this. Don't just talk about the negatives.
Refer to the wider need for renewable energy. The planning officer might know very little about climate change. Let them know that without a switch from fossil fuels to renewable forms of power, global warming will have massive global and local impacts, like extreme weather events, droughts, flooding and sea level rise. Under the Resource Management Act, the council is obliged to consider the benefits of renewable energy for addressing climate change, when considering wind farms.

However, even if it is a very good idea to tell the planning officer that you support the wind farm development, legally they can only take account of official written submissions.

Anyone can make a written submission to his or her council supporting or opposing a notified resource consent. Once the council has received all the submissions, a report will be prepared which includes a summary of submissions and recommendations about the application. This report will be send to all the submitters and to the councillors who will consider the application. When making a decision, they don't have to accept these recommendations but they will use them to guide their decision.

5. How to make a written submission
The first step will be to learn as much as you can about the proposed wind farm development. Therefore you might:

Study the full resource consent application at the council office. Have a look at the Assessment of Environmental Effects which must be attached to the resource consent application. If something is unclear talk a council officer.
Ask a council officer for a copy of the key parts of the application which you can take away. This might be helpful when writing the submission at home. (You might have to pay for the copies, check first.)
Talk to the wind farm developer about the details of his plan. If you consider lodging a submission you should work together.
If you don't feel comfortable with all the issues, get in touch with the New Zealand Wind Energy Assosciation, or Greenpeace to discuss them.

To write the submission you need to get a submission form from your council (some councils provide the form as a download on their website). Fill out all the required information (the form will lead you through the info required). In the main part you will have to explain why you are supporting the resource consent for the wind farm development. Make sure your explanation is clear and easy to read. Stick to the facts, don't include personal issues. Use simple everyday language, a deliberate structure and make your point clear (don't leave the council in any doubt as to what you want). Concerning the content get some inspiration from the previous section (what to write in your letter of support).

The Ministry of Environment provides a very good guideline on their website with a lot of tips for writing a good submission. If you consider lodging a submission you should definitely have a look at it.

6. Contacting councillors
Local councillors make up the planning committee and normally make the final decision on an application. Although the planning report will make them aware of how many submissions have been lodged, it may well be worth trying to influence councillors further.

Contact your local planning office to find out who sits on the planning committee.
If you don't have time to meet with them you could write. Again keep letters short and to the point. It might be helpful to attach the letter which you've written to the planning officer.

There are various ways of meeting with councillors:

Talk to friends who may have contacts at the council. Getting an introduction to a councillor might give you more chance of being listened to.
Find out from your local council's website if councillors hold regular meetings and go along to these.
It may also be possible to arrange a separate meeting with a councillor - phone them to find out.
Be aware that some councils and councillors discourage personal lobbying, so tread carefully and never harass councillors.

When you meet with councillors think about the following:

Councillors may not even be aware of the wind farm plan, or know very much about wind power.
Be sure to emphasise to them the importance of building renewable energy technologies to tackle climate change.
Outline ways in which the scheme will be beneficial to the local area.
Remember that councillors are elected representatives, so the perceived popularity of a scheme is important to them. If you've been collecting signatures or letters of support, tell them about it.
Be polite and try to make them an ally, just one positive contribution from a councillor at planning committee may make all the difference in getting permission granted.

Although your own councillor may not sit on the planning committee, it still might be worth talking to them as they may be willing to take your views to others in the council.

7. Contacting consultees
To make their assessment of effects, and report to the Council hearing committee, the planning officer may consult a number of other parties for guidance and opinion. These might include:

Other district council departments
Local iwi
Conservation groups such as the Forest and Bird Society or the Fish and Game Council
Government departments such as the Department of Conservation

The planning officer will tell you who has been consulted and what their comments were. This might be helpful to you either to build allies or to find out what criticisms are being levelled at the scheme. Some conservation organisations are generally negative towards wind developments because of landscape issues. If you find that these sorts of comments have been made, make sure you counter them in your letters to planners.

8. Members of Parliament
When a decision is being made by a local authority, MPs don't have a role so lobbying them isn't vital. However you may find that they have an influence with local councillors and are willing to pass your comments on. It's also good for MPs to know that a particular scheme is popular in case they are asked to comment on it. An MP is much more likely to come out in favour of a wind plan if they think it has the support of their constituents. top

9. The Consent Hearing
The decision whether to grant resource consent will be made by the hearings committee made up of local councillors (or commissioners appointed by Council). The hearing is open to the public, as well as those parties who made submissions, so you should be able to find out where and when it's taking place by calling your local planning office. If you've been in contact with a supportive member of the committee, call them to let them know that you'll be attending. In some cases, a pre-hearing meeting may be held to address some of the issues and exchange ideas in a more informal setting.

People who have lodged a submission have the opportunity to speak in front of the hearing (you have to state on your submission form if you want to speak or not). If you do wish to speak, make sure you plan what you're going to say in advance. The planner's report must be made available to submitters and the applicant at least five working days before the hearing. You might find it useful to read the planner's recommendations when you're thinking about your own comments to the committee.

If you consider appearing at the consent hearing inform yourself about the details of the procedure at the website of the Ministry of Environment, they provide a really good guideline.

10. Possible outcomes of the Consent Hearing
In most cases the committee will either grant or refuse resource consent, usually in accordance with the planner's report. In some cases the committee may decide that they don't have enough information and defer their decision. If a deferred decision is called, you should continue to talk to councillors whilst they gather more information.

If resource consent is not granted, it doesn't necessarily mean the end of the wind farm plan. The developer may well appeal the decision to the Environment Court. If the Environment Court also turns down the application, the developer can appeal to higher Courts on points of law. Only people or organisations that specifically register as parties to the appeal can take part in the appeal hearing process.

11. Appeals
If you lodged a submission on the original application you will be contacted and notified of the Council's decision. You will also be contacted and notified if the decision has been appealed and given the opportunity to join the appeal process. Appeals are often complex, expensive and take time. You will need professional help from a lawyer. Effort and costs might be reduced if you can join the appeal of other people, groups or organizations. Have a look at the Ministry for Environment guide to the Environmental Court for further information.

12. 'Call-Ins'
The Minister of Environment has the right to 'call-in' any planning application where it involves matters of national significance for his or her own decision and will convene a board of inquiry to make that decision. Similar notification, hearing and appeal processes apply as for an application to a local authority. But as mentioned at the beginning this power has seldom been used within in NZ, and has not been used for any wind farm applications.

Offshore wind farms
Any proposed offshore wind farm would be dealt with by the Regional Council. The process may also involve the Minister of Conservation as a consent authority. The notification, hearing and appeals processes remain the same as for on-shore wind farms.


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