Charges and Fees

A site visit by the processing planner will be carried out for every resource consent application. This allows the relevant officer to fully understand the site, the
surrounding context, how the development will relate to neighbouring properties, and ensure there are no existing features that might affect the application. Site
visits are established planning practice and are essential to sound decision making and ensuring these decisions are defendable if challenged in court. Other experts like engineers and landscape architects will also typically undertake a site visit for their reporting.

QLDC utilises external planning professionals to support internal staff. This is standard practice across the country to help councils meet workload demands within the Resource Management Act (RMA) timeframe. External planner hourly rates are the same as QLDC staff rates, and they have been trained in and have access to QLDC systems and processes.

The use of external expert consultants (e.g. landscape architects/urban designers/noise/engineering) where required will
be charged on a full recovery basis at their agreed Council hourly rate.

Your resource consent is allocated to a processing planner, who will be your primary contact. Senior planners may also provide guidance to the planner during processing, and a decision maker will review the decision report. The planner, senior planner and decision maker may charge their time to your resource consent number for any time spent working on your application. This is why you will see time for several planners appear on your invoices. 

Are your fees GST inclusive? 

All charges and initial fees are inclusive of GST and are payable on submission of the application to Council. Figures on your tax invoice are GST exclusive and GST is calculated on the subtotal. 

Do I need to pay my initial fee for my application to be processed? 

Yes, your application will not be processed until we have received payment of the initial fee. This invoice is issued once an application has been lodged through QLDC’s online Community Portal (typically within 1-2 business days).
Payment correctly listing the application reference must be received before an application can progress further. Incorrectly referenced payments will result in your payment being returned to you, and delays to your application processing.

What is a monitoring fee used for? 

Once an application has been granted, we may carry out monitoring (which may include on-site visits) to make sure the development or activity has been, or is being undertaken, in accordance with the approved decision and conditions. The initial fee is used towards the cost of monitoring, however further fees may be payable and will be invoiced monthly as applicable.

More information can be found on our Monitoring webpage.

When will I receive my invoice? 

The initial application fee invoice is issued when your application is lodged, and invoices for additional processing time will be issued on a monthly basis until the processing of your resource consent application has been completed. 

Are there other costs involved? 

It depends on the complexity of the application. Each application is different because each one relates to a specific site and proposed development.

Application costs vary depending on the following:
> The quality of the application we receive
> The site of the proposed development
> The scale of the proposed development

Once the application deposit has been used, invoices for additional processing time will be issued monthly until the processing of your application has been completed. If the processing charges do not exceed the application deposit, you will not receive further invoices.

Note: the next invoice you receive may show charges dating back several weeks or months. This is because your application deposit has been used and treated as a credit towards your application charges.

All current fees are listed on our Charges and Fees webpage.