Fees and charges

You pay an initial fixed application fee when you lodge your resource consent application. This covers the estimated standard cost of processing your application. Staff time is charged at the following rates (effective from 1 July 2024): 

The final cost depends on how much time is actually spent processing your application. This may be more or less than the initial fixed application fee paid. If you withdraw your application we refund any unused portion of your fee. 

All fees can be paid into the following GWRC account: 06-0582-0104781-00. (For reference details please quote "consents" and the applicant name.)

For more details on application fees, download our Quick Guide to Resource Consent Charges (PDF 183 KB)  or the full Resource Management Charging Policy (2024-2027) (PDF 1.3 MB) .

Initial fixed non-notified application fees (including GST) are outlined below:

Where there is more than one application required for the same proposal, an initial fixed application fee is required for each application. In some instances, we may waiver the requirement to pay all initial fixed application fees associated with the same proposal. 

Initial fixed notified application fees (including GST) are outlined below: 

We’ll provide a cost estimate once we’ve received and assessed your application. It will be revised as needed during the application process.

Once you receive your resource consent(s), we recover the cost of monitoring your consent. Monitoring charges are estimated when your consent is granted as charges vary considerably, depending on the scale and complexity of your activity.

There are three components that make up your monitoring charge:

1. Customer Service charge: An annual fee of $86.25 (including GST) applies to all consents. This covers services such as: 

• Providing information and advice on your consent
• Maintaining your consent as a public record
• Recording changes in consent status (e.g. if your consent is transferred to someone else)

This fee is charged every year until your consent is transferred or expires. It applies even if your resource consent is not being used. (Note: Where there are multiple consents issued to the site site/activity, discounts apply)

2. Compliance monitoring charge: This charge reflects the time taken by staff to monitor your consent. Staff time is charged at $172.50 (including GST) per hour. This covers services such as: 

• A site visit; 
• And/or an audit to assess an operation's compliance with consent conditions

The level of compliance monitoring needed depends on the complexity of your consent and significance of environmental effects. 

3. State of the Environment Monitoring charge: GWRC undertakes many types of monitoring to assess the state of the environment and the effects of resource consents. We monitor air quality, river and stream flows, water quality and groundwater levels, and as a result, we pass on a proportion of these monitoring costs to consent holders. 

For more details on monitoring charges download our full Resource Management Charging Policy (2024-27) (PDF 1.3 MB) .