When you can have your say

Find out when and how you can have a say on plans, applications and decisions under the new planning system.

Overall, fewer consent and permit applications are expected to require public notification under the new planning system than under the RMA. This is because more issues will be addressed earlier through national direction, national standards and regional plans.

As a result, public notification will focus on applications that directly affect people or are likely to have wider impacts on the community or environment.

The new system focuses notification on the people most affected by a proposal. Three key changes support this approach:

  • Applications will usually be notified directly to affected people when those people can be identified.
  • Direct notification will generally apply when effects on people are ‘more than minor’.
  • Under the Natural Environment Act, public notification will generally only apply where effects are ‘significant’.

For the Planning Act, the threshold for public notification will remain for ‘more than minor’ effects.

Applications may be publicly notified when it is not possible to identify everyone who may be affected.

In some cases, national standards or plan rules may mean notification is not required.