Decision made whether or not to hold hearing

The consent authority decides whether or not a hearing will be held. A hearing must be held if either the applicant or a submitter has requested to be heard and this request has not subsequently been withdrawn. ⁸⁶⁷

Where there are competing applications seeking consent for the use of the same resource the RMA expresses a “first come first served” approach and the council must first determine the application received first in time. ⁸⁶⁸  An application is received first in time if it is lodged with the council first, provided that it is not incomplete in terms of section 88(3). Priority is not lost by a section 92 request for information or a section 91 deferral for additional consents unless the applicant unreasonably delays matters.

Last updated at 5:03PM on March 9, 2015