Technical Expert Guide
Guide to help applicants in whether they will need to talk to a technical expert
Depending on the potential effects your activity could cause, the scale of the activity and the location, technical expertise may be required to prepare an application that can be accepted by Council for processing. If technical expertise is needed, there are still aspects of the forms that you will be able to complete yourself, should you want to.
The below table is a guide to whether you should seek advice from a technical expert to either prepare a consent application or to provide a technical memo covering assessment of environmental effects that could result from the activity. Please note each application is different in terms of the scale and nature of the activity. If you are wanting specific advice for your application or if your activity is not listed below, please contact consent.enquiries@orc.govt.nz for more information.
We also offer pre-application meetings to discuss or review your application. Information on these can be found on our "Before applying for a consent" page.
Land use activities
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Consent Type
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Can I fill in the technical aspects of the form on my own?
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Potential Expert Advice required
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Constructing a bore or drilling a contaminated site
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Yes
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Disturbing a contaminated site
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No
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- Contaminated land specialist
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Undertaking residential earthworks
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Depends on scale. You will need assistance preparing an erosion and sediment control plan that meets GD05 requirements (Auckland Guidelines that need to be complied with)
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- Planner
- Environmental Management Consultant specialising in construction
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Constructing a Defence Against Water and associated diversion of flood flows
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No
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- Natural Hazard Analyst
- Hydrologist
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Water permits – taking water
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Consent Type
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Can I fill in the technical aspects of the form on my own?
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Potential Expert Advice required
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Surface water take - PC7 controlled activity
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Yes
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None
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Surface water take - PC7 non-complying activity
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No
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- Ecologist
- Hydrologist
- Planner
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Surface water take – New
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Yes
Dependent on scale you may require input from technical experts.
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- Ecologist
- Hydrologist
- Planner
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Groundwater take
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Is the take a small-scale replacement application? Yes
Otherwise - No
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Working in waterways
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Consent Type
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Can I fill in the technical aspects of the form on my own?
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Potential Expert Advice required
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Constructing a dam
(please note this relates to the physical construction of a dam whether in the bed of a river or outside)
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Is this a small dam where the catchment upstream is relatively small and there is no risk to downstream landowners? Yes
Otherwise - No
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- Chartered professional engineer
- If fish are present at the site you will need to talk to an ecologist
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Damming or diverting water
(related to the damming of water in a lake or river by a dam)
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Is the damming and diverting of water a short term activity to allow other works while flows are low? Yes
Otherwise - No
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Stream clearance
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Is the work going to be undertaken in a one-off event when the watercourse is dry? and Is there a recent fish survey that has been undertaken in the immediate area where clearance is proposed? Yes
Otherwise - No
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Placing structures in the bed of a watercourse
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Dependent on what the structure is, whether it is new or replacement and whether there are other legislative requirements. Please contact public.enquiries@orc.govt for specific guidance on this.
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- Chartered professional engineer
- Ecologist
- Natural Hazard Analyst
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Alteration of the bed of a watercourse
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If this is a small alteration that would take place when watercourse is dry - Yes
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Reclamation of a watercourse
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No
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Gravel extraction
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If a one-off activity – Yes
Otherwise - No
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- Natural Hazard Analyst
- Ecologist
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Undertaking works within or in close proximity to a natural wetland
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No
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- Ecologist – wetland specialist
- Planner
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Discharge permits
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Consent Type
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Can I fill in the technical aspects of the form on my own?
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Potential Expert Advice required
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Small scale septic tank discharge
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if the discharge is within 50 metres of a watercourse, bore or the coastal marine area? No
Otherwise - Yes but you should provide capability information on the system.
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- Ecologist – dependent on if close proximity to surface water
- Person who designed/installed/serviced the system for an operating report
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Larger scale discharge (greater than 6,000 L/d)
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No
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- Groundwater scientist if groundwater could be affected (e.g. within a groundwater protection zone)
- Ecologist – dependent on if close proximity to surface water
- Person who designed/installed/serviced the system for an operating report
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Discharge of contaminants to air
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No
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Coastal permits
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Consent Type
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Can I fill in the technical aspects of the form on my own?
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Potential Expert Advice required
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Coastal Permit – replacement or new mooring
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Yes – ensure you consult with Harbourmaster and Customary Marine Title Groups prior to lodging
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Occupying coastal marine area with an existing structure (e.g. boat shed)
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Yes – ensure you consult with Harbourmaster and Customary Marine Title Groups prior to lodging
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Placing a new structure in the coastal marine area
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Depending on the scale of the structure, yes. Ensure you consult with Harbourmaster and Customary Marine Title Groups prior to lodging
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May need to consider:
- Ecology – coastal expert
- Planner
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Farming systems
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Consent Type
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Can I fill in the technical aspects of the form on my own?
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Potential Expert Advice required
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Discharge of liquid animal effluent to land (the system)
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Yes
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Technical work relating to the design or assessment of the storage facility and storage capacity needs to be prepared by a suitably qualified person. You can prepare your management plan yourself, but you may wish to talk to an advisor about this.
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Use of land for animal effluent storage facility
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No
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Technical work relating to the design or assessment of the storage facility and storage capacity needs to be prepared by a suitably qualified person. You can prepare your management plan yourself, but you may wish to talk to an advisor about this.
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Use of land and discharge of contaminants from a feedlot or stockholding area
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Yes
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If you are discharging effluent to land in an area that presents a risk to water quality you may want to talk to a water quality scientist, but this is location specific.
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Land Use Consent – Farm conversion
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No
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- Farm systems expert
- Planner
- Hydrologist
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Intensive Grazing (short term)
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Yes
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We cannot provide guidance on which technical expert to engage, however most companies are easy to find through a google search or word of mouth.
Below is a brief list of what each expert could provide that may assist your application:
- Resource Management Planner
- General planning advice such rule interpretation
- putting together an assessment of environmental effects and/or policy assessment
- Ecologist
- undertake ecological/ fish surveys,
- prepare an assessment of effects on ecological/ aquatic values.
- Recommend mitigation measures to incorporate into your proposal.
- Provide guidance on NES matters including fish passage requirements and identifying natural wetlands.
- Hydrologist
- undertake flow gauging
- provide information on mean annual low flows
- Undertake historic water use analysis
- Provide recommendations on appropriate mitigation if required (e.g. residual flow)
- Farming systems expert
- Provide advice on new rules
- Provide management plans
- Assist in design of systems
- Chartered Engineer
- design structure (e.g. dam, bridge)
- provide information on structural requirements
- Provide assessment on integrity, erosion, scour
- Prepare management plans and reports
- Groundwater scientist
- undertake aquifer test
- undertake assessment on potentially affected bores
- Natural hazards
- Flood management
- Flood probability modelling
- Gravel availability and impacts of extraction
- Scientist
- Will provide guidance and assessment of effects based on their area of expertise (i.e. air, wetland etc).
Once an application is lodged and is being assessed by Council, we may choose to get your application audited by our own technical experts (either internal or external). This is simply an audit of the information provided rather than repeating the assessment has been undertaken by your technical expert. This will not result in any new work or produce new information however additional information may be requested if the information supplied needs clarification or is insufficient.
