The RMA allows you to have your say about how your local environment should be looked after. There are four main ways you can do this:
Write a submission to your local council when the council is preparing a plan that describes how it intends to manage resources in your area (called a district or regional plan)
Write a submission to your council when someone needs a permit or resource consent to do something that might harm the environment.
Write a submission to a Special Tribunal that is considering a proposed Water Conservation Order to protect a river, lake or other water body.
Write a submission to regional or central government on a policy statement that gives guidance to all local government on how to achieve sustainable management.
Forest & Bird has prepared a comprehensive guide that will help you to make a submission to your local council, tribunal and even the Environment Court. By having your say, you can protect your local environment.
Purchase The Handbook of Environmental Law, a completely rewritten edition of the 1992 book of the same name, is available from Forest & Bird for the reduced price of $10. Its contributors - academics, conservationists and practitioners – are specialists in their fields. The book is a comprehensive guide aimed at people who are not necessarily experts, but wish to understand and use New Zealand’s environmental legislation. Click here to order your copy.
Why is it important to make a submission?
Submissions on plans, policy statements and water conservation orders can be an effective way of putting in place rules that protect nature over the long term. By lodging a submission on a resource consent application you can modify or stop a specific development with adverse environmental effects.
Once you make a submission under the RMA you are provided with a series of rights. These rights include the right to present your views orally and the right to appeal a decision you disagree with to the Environment Court.
The RMA sets out when councils are allowed to process a resource consent application without inviting public submissions (non-notification). When this happens you cannot make a submission on the proposal or appeal the decision to the Environment Court. The law is written in favour of public participation, as only applications with minor effects can be processed without notification.
If you feel you have been unjustly excluded from making a submission on an application for an environmentally harmful resource consent, write to the Minister for the Environment to complain. You can alsoseek a judicial review of the decision in the High Court, but this is expensive.
Forest & Bird is campaigning for people to have the right to appeal non-notification decisions to the Environment Court which is more accessible than the High Court.
