Overall it is good practice for the processing officer to advise the applicant (verbally or in writing) of an intention to notify in advance of the public notice or serving notice.
There is no requirement for there to be a written report on the notification decision provided to the applicant. However, s35(5)(ga) requires the council to keep records of notification decisions and for these to be publicly available.
For a publicly notified application:
- the public notice must be in the prescribed form. Refer to Form 12 of the Resource Management (Forms, Fees and Procedures) Regulations 2003.
- the public notice must be published (along with all the relevant information) on a freely accessible internet site. A short summary of the online notice is to be published in at least one newspaper circulated to the whole area affected by the topic of the notice, along with the web address directing readers to the full notice.
- the notice of the application must be served on every person prescribed in Regulation 10 of the Resource Management (Forms, Fees and Procedure) Regulations 2003.
- the notice (and the summary in the newspaper) must be worded in a way that is clear and concise. The notice should include enough information about the application and the location to enable any person to decide whether or not to view the complete application for the purposes of making a submission.
- the council must serve notice on all affected persons and on various other specified organisations and persons (via the means listed in s352). Any person may make a submission on an application that has been publicly notified, unless they are a trade competitor and are submitting on trade competition grounds (as outlined in s308B).
- the council has the discretion whether to require the summary of the public notice to be affixed in a conspicuous place, on or adjacent to the site to which the application relates. Refer to Regulation 10A of the Resource Management (Forms, Fees and Procedure) Regulations 2003.
For a limited notified application:
- the council must serve notice of the application on all affected persons (as determined by the step-by step process) but does not need to serve notice on any persons who have already given their written approval.
- there is no prescribed form for serving notice of an application on affected persons. Council could use a notice similar to that used to publicly notify an application (Form 12), but this form would need to be amended so it does not get confused with the public notification form.
- the notice should include enough information about the application and the location to enable the affected person to decide whether or not to view the complete application for the purposes of making a submission. The notice must be worded in a way that is clear and concise.
- the council does not need to serve the entire application itself. Service can be by way of a letter advising where the application can be viewed rather than attaching a copy of the application.
- anyone who is served with notice of an application may make a submission, unless they are a trade competitor and are submitting on trade competition grounds (as outlined in s308B).
- no one else has a right to submit, and the council cannot accept submissions from persons who were not served (note: this is mandatory, so it is important the correct affected persons are identified and served notice if they have not provided their written approval).
