Help with your planning applications

Although my articles have often focused on Surveying issues, a significant component of the work we undertake for clients, is in the preparation of planning applications. There are a number of different types of applications that can be required under the Resource Management Act.

Every application submitted to Council for a subdivision has a planning application for subdivision consent. Where a use is proposed on a property which is not permitted by the District Plan, then a Landuse application is also required. Sometimes both a subdivision and landuse consent are required simultaneously. This is particularly so, in the case of greenfield subdivisions where significant earthworks are involved.

In more complex applications, there are consents required for works within a watercourse, and consents for discharging stormwater.

The preparation of Landuse consents requires an understanding of the Rules of the District Plan and how these rules are interpreted and applied. Surveyors are well qualified to prepare these applications through their formal training and experience. In more recent years we have also employed qualified planners to assist with heavy workloads, and to provide additional services for our clients. This is an area that we are likely to expand our services as growth continues in the Auckland and Tauranga regions.