What are the environmental impacts of the project and do I need an Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE)?

The RMA discusses effects on the environment of activities, also known as environmental impacts. You will have to consider the effects on the natural and physical environment, ecosystems, people, and community and amenity values. You will also have to think about possible measures to treat, avoid, remedy or mitigate these effects.

When you make an application for any one of the consents listed under "What resource consents do I need?" you will need to consider providing an AEE. The purpose of an AEE is to identify the future consequences of a current or proposed development.

A thorough assessment will give you a good indication of the likelihood that your application will be considered without public notification, whether the activity is likely to gain consent, and if so, likely conditions. Council staff will audit the information supplied in your AEE to ensure the Council's decision-makers receive accurate information that is appropriate to the 'scale and significance' of the activity. A good AEE is fundamental to enabling the Council to understand your proposal and grant consent.

Our job is to understand how much assessment is required in relation to the scale of your development. A small two-lot subdivision in the city will only need a brief assessment to accompany the application, whereas a larger development with various consents will require a more comprehensive assessment. We make this judgement call with each new job we receive and our staff have a sound understanding of what is required from each Council for different activities.

The AEE will include a description of the uses and values of that part of the environment likely to be affected by your proposal. A full and accurate description of the affected environment is very important for the Council to understand where your proposal is and what it could effect.

Effects on the environment resulting from a discharge cannot be determined without knowing exactly what is being discharged, how much, where to, and how. If a discharge permit is required from a Regional Council, for example for sewage to ground or stormwater, then an AEE will be required.

Councils encourage consultation as a means of identifying concerns and gathering information. Detailing the consultation undertaken and reporting the results is helpful to the decision-makers when they decide who may be adversely affected by your proposal and what the views of the community are in relation to the effects of the proposal. We can help establish who could be affected by your proposal. Sometimes the Council advise who may be adversely affected and recommend that you obtain their written approval. Once written approval has been obtained decision-makers cannot consider those effects when making their decision. Getting a written approval could be the difference between a public notification, which takes a longer time to process, and non-notification.

Decision-makers are required to consider alternative methods of discharge, including alternative receiving environments considered by applicants for discharge permits. While there is no requirement to adopt the best practice or any other option, details of why an alternative was selected should be provided. For proposals having significant adverse effects on the environment, alternatives should also be considered and details given. It may be appropriate to treat adverse effects considered more than minor so that the application can be considered for non-notification. Treatment will be essential if adverse effects are unacceptable.

The RMA refers to three methods for treating adverse effects - avoiding, remedying or mitigating. We can help determine which method should be adopted. Once the effect has been treated, the residual adverse effect can be re-assessed to determine whether it is significant. Conditions of consent which you will have to comply with may be imposed based on your assessment. It is therefore important to ensure that your assessment is correct.

As you can see, an AEE covers a lot of important information that is essential to an application. This is a very short summary of a complex process. Most of the Councils (District, City and Regional) have application forms and information detailing what they would like to see in an application. Knowing what a Council wants in an application is fundamental to facilitating the consent application process.