Pre-application guidance

We encourage you to contact us to discuss your application as part of your pre-application checklist.

Simple applications

Straight forward projects, such as extending your dwelling, may only need an email, phone call or online meeting with one of our planners.  Appointments to discuss simple resource consent applications with a planner are free of charge for the first 30 minutes.

We can be contacted by email sdc@southlanddc.govt.nz or by phoning the customer service team on 0800 727 059. When you contact us to discuss your resource consent application, we recommend you have the following information ready:

  1. Physical address and legal description of the property where the activity will take place
  2. Details of the activity and the environment
  3. Details of potential effects the activity may have
  4. Questions that you may want to ask.

Complex applications

We recommend you have a pre-application meeting before making your resource consent application for more complex proposals such as multiple dwellings or large-scale subdivision. 

You will be charged at the current staff hourly rates as set out in the Council fees and charges, including actual time spent on meeting preparation, attendance and post-meeting follow-up.  

  • For complex proposals it may be appropriate for a planner to meet you to get a thorough understanding of your proposal. We can discuss potential issues, effects on the wider environment and specific persons, and any necessary mitigation that may be required. This can be at our office or onsite.
  • Depending on the type of proposal it may also be appropriate for other Council staff to attend the meeting and provide you with feedback to assist with your design/development process.

For comprehensive pre-application meetings we suggest that you provide us with plans and any relevant documents as early as possible to allow circulation to all meeting attendees, and no later than five working days prior to the meeting.

You can bring your advisors (planning, traffic, surveying and so on) with you to meetings. 

To make the most of the meeting:

  • send any information you have as soon as possible before the meeting so we have time to consider it;
  • be open and complete with the information you provide to help us provide quality advice;
  • let us know who you are bringing with you, and if there are any particular issues you would like to discuss;
  • depending on your proposal type, you may request that other Council specialists attend the meeting. Alternatively, the planner from the resource consents team will discuss with you whether other specialists should attend.  This is to make sure we can answer your questions and are able to raise any issues or concerns early on.

At a pre-application meeting the planner may give preliminary advice, however, please be aware that we cannot confirm if your resource consent:

You can make a resource consent application at any stage, even if there are unresolved matters from the pre-application meeting.

If you provide more information or change the project’s scope after the pre-application meeting, it may have an impact on our assessment of your application.