Consent and planning process

The diagram below from The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) illustrates the process Auckland Council will follow when people or businesses apply for a resource consent. For this project, Waste Management has already asked that our application is publically notified, so Auckland Council will not have to make that decision.

To learn more about the process, there is a section on MfE’s website called An everyday guide: Applying for a resource consent here.

Council controls the next stages of our resource consent application process. They will have hardcopies of the resource consent application available to the public immediately, at Auckland Council’s Service Centres or libraries in these locations:

• Auckland CBD: Graham Street Service Centre, 35 Graham St, Auckland
• Warkworth: Warkworth Service Centre, 1 Baxter St
• Wellsford: Wellsford War Memorial Library, 13 Port Albert Rd
• Orewa: Orewa Service Centre, 50 Centreway Rd

You can also contact Warwick Pascoe, Principal Project Lead at Auckland Council by email at warwick.pascoe@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz to arrange a copy to be provided electronically.

Auckland Council normally decides whether or not to notify a resource consent application.

For this project, Waste Management has asked that Auckland Council publically notify the consent application. We know this project is an important and significant part of the region’s future infrastructure and that many people will be interested to provide comment.

Being a publically notified process will mean that anyone is able to obtain a copy of the consent application that we lodge, make a submission and be heard during the consent hearing.

We lodged our resource consent application in May.

Waste Management lodged an application for a private plan change in July 2019.

The intention of the private plan change is to recognise the landfill in the Auckland Unitary Plan (Unitary Plan) by creating a precinct.

If this change is made, it will mean the precinct will be identified on the Unitary Plan maps for anyone to see and also that future generations are aware from the maps that the precinct contains a landfill. The precinct will remain subject to any Unitary Plan rules for the rural zone and additional rules that apply to waste disposal in the precinct.

The private plan change application will be processed by a different team at Auckland Council and will make its way through a different set of internal Council steps before it can progress to a public notification stage.

Like the resource consent process, the private plan change involves a hearing. Waste Management has requested that both the private plan change and the resource consent should be heard at the same time, to save time and effort for anyone who is interested in participating in the process, especially people from the community who wish to submit.

Allowing for Council timeframes, we understand the two processes are most likely to reach public notification in early 2020.

The creation of a new Auckland Regional Landfill Precinct will not affect the process or the assessment of the resource consent application.

Some of the key impacts of the plan change request are:

• Greater visibility into the future: There will be visibility of the landfill by way of the creation of an Auckland Regional Landfill Precinct in the Unitary Plan planning maps. This will be important while the landfill is accepting waste, but will be even more important after the landfill has stopped accepting waste, and we have completed our aftercare period, potentially more than 65 years away.

• Location identified for the placement of waste: The precinct will define Valley 1 only for the placement of waste. Any further waste placement outside of that defined area will require a further plan change or a new application for a resource consent at that time.

• Consenting requirements: The consenting process will remain the same as it is today. Any future resource consents relating to the landfill or operations on site in the future will be assessed as a discretionary activity, will be required to be publicly notified and all potential adverse effects will be required to be rigorously assessed.

There are now two separate processes relating to the proposed landfill. One is the resource consent process and the other is a plan change request process. We understand the two processes are most likely to reach public notification in early 2020.

The next step in the resource consent process is for Council to request any additional information that they deem necessary, and for Waste Management to provide that material.

The private plan change application will progress through a number of internal Council processes before it is considered for public notification. Only when is it publicly notified will Council release that documentation to the community. Unlike the resource consent process, Council does not publish plan change request documentation until this public notification stage.

We will now wait for Council to review our documentation. We will provide an update as Council progresses through their processes.