Some activities may be so minor Council can exercise discretion to not proceed through a resource consent process and decide to issue an exemption. This may be picked up through the building consent process or, at times, a proposal may be put to the Council by an applicant as being suitable for this process, but it must meet the requirements of the Resource Management Act.

Before putting a proposal to Council, we recommend touching base with a Resource Consents Planner for advice.

To be deemed 'permitted marginal or temporary', s87BB(1) Resource Management Act 1991 requires that an activity must:

• Be marginal or temporary in terms of the degree to which the activity exceeds the requirements of the relevant District Plan rule, or
• Have adverse effects that are indiscernible in character, intensity and scale from those allowed by a permitted activity in the District Plan, and
• Have adverse effects on any person which are less than minor.

Examples: glazing, minimum outdoor living space dimensions are non-compliant however the overall area can comply with the rule.

Application forms

• Deemed permitted marginal or temporary activity application form - (PDF, 246 KB)
• Written approval - Owner of affected property - (PDF, 754 KB)

Processing of a Deemed to be Permitted Marginal or Temporary Activity Application

There are no legislated timeframes for processing these applications. However, we will endeavour to finish the processing of an application within 10 working days.

The Ministry for the Environment has published a technical guide to deemed permitted activities which is available below:

A Technical Guide to Deemed Permitted Activities »

Examples of potential situations when a Deemed to be Permitted Marginal or Temporary Activity Application may be accepted

• When an application for a resource consent is lodged with the consent authority. During the s88 completeness check, the consent authority might determine the proposed activity meets the requirements of s87BB. If this is the case, the consent authority can decide whether to issue a written notice, instead of continuing to process the resource consent application. Alternatively, the consent authority may make this determination after they have conducted a site visit. If the consent authority decides to issue the written notice, then they must return the resource consent application (section 87BB(4)).
• When a building consent application is received and the consent authority identifies under s37 of The Building Act 2004 that resource consent is required. The consent authority could decide it has sufficient information to assess if the activity could be considered as a deemed permitted activity. If so, they could inform the applicant they are prepared to consider the proposal on this basis.
• When pre-application meetings/discussions are held, the consent authority may, upon receiving preliminary information regarding a proposal, consider the proposed activity meets the criteria under section 87BB. The consent authority could inform the applicant they are prepared to consider the proposal on this basis.
• When a specific request is received by an applicant wanting to undertake an activity seeking that their application be a deemed permitted marginal or temporary activity under section 87BB. If sufficient information is provided, the consent authority could agree at its discretion to consider it on that basis.