Pre-application meetings

Pre-application meetings are highly recommended, especially for more complex applications.

Meetings are confidential and allow you to discuss the early stages of your project. Formal decisions cannot be made during or on the basis of the pre-application meeting; and any representations made by the council are not legally binding.

Chat with our duty planner who will help answer any preliminary questions and will help you determine if you need to book a pre-application meeting.

After you have spoken to a duty planner to determine if a meeting is right for you, please complete a pre-application meeting form (available on the Application forms and fees page):

• Hand deliver: drop the form in to customer services at our Gorge Road offices in Queenstown or Ardmore Street in Wānaka.

• Email: resourceconsent@qldc.govt.nz 

• Post: Resource Consents, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Private Bag 50072, Queenstown 9348.

Please ensure you include supporting documents that have details on your project, proposal overview and concept plans as our planner requires these prior to your meeting.

The first hour of QLDC staff time spent on a pre-application is free of charge. All time thereafter will be charged at current hourly rates. These can be found in our Fees and Charges documentation.

The time QLDC will spend on a pre-application may include:

• reviewing project information submitted

• organising a pre-application meeting (including liaising with all attendees)

• a site visit (not always required)

• attendance at the pre-application meeting

• writing up and issuing meeting minutes

• any further follow up meetings on the same project before a resource consent application is lodged formally with Council

If QLDC's external consultations (i.e. landscape, urban design etc.) are involved in the pre-application, these will be charged at the hourly rate agreed under Council's Planning and Development Professional Services Panel contract. The first hour of external consultant's time is not free of charge.

A QLDC planner will organise the meeting, with the appropriate specialists (for example, urban designers or traffic engineers) indicated by the applicant in the form and/or based on the information you provide us. The appropriate specialists will be included to ensure we can answer your questions and are able to raise any potential issues or concerns early on.

To make the most of the process, at least three days before the meeting you should:

• Provide the planner with details on your project, proposal overview and concept plans at the time you submit your Pre-Application Meeting Request Form.

• Let the planner know who will be attending the meeting from the applicant’s side.

• Let the planner know if there is anything in particular you wish to discuss.

The more information provided prior to the meeting, the more beneficial the meeting will be, and the Council planner will be able to ensure the correct specialists attend, if any.

Please note, at this meeting the planner cannot determine if your resource consent:

• Will be approved.

• Needs to be notified.

• Has any affected parties.

We will advise on those points after we’ve received and assessed your application.

The QLDC planner will circulate minutes of the meeting to the applicant, which will be kept on file (confidentially) at QLDC. As a proposal at pre-application stage may never eventuate into a resource consent application, or may change prior to lodgement of an application, it is not appropriate for any initial information to be given to interested parties. This is because we want to encourage meaningful, productive confidential discussions at the preliminary stage of an application.

If you give more information or make changes to the application after the meeting, it may impact upon QLDC's view of your application.

Please quote your pre-application reference number in your resource consent application form.