Planning - Frequently asked questions

The Canterbury Regional Council (ECAN) is responsible for regulating discharges to air, land and water. This includes whether or not you can light a burn pile, dig a well, and install a septic tank. For enquiries related to these matters please contact ECAN or visit their website https://www.ecan.govt.nz/

Building consents for septic tanks are processed by the Ashburton District Council Building Team while ECAN regulates the use of the septic tank.

Different rules apply for holding tanks. Please seek advice from the Ashburton District Council Building Team and ECAN for holding tanks.

The District Plan subdivision rules are in the Subdivision chapter of the District Plan. To find what rules apply to you, you need to first know your zone in the Planning Maps.

Note: We strongly recommend that you take professional advice from a Surveyor or your Solicitor before proceeding with purchase if you are wanting to subdivide.

The minimum site size varies between the different zones, with the minimum lot size subject to whether there are buildings existing on the site, building consent being obtained or at the time of applying for subdivision, or the creation of vacant allotments.

The District Plan subdivision rules are in the Subdivision chapter of the District Plan.

Sometimes you might need to get a land-use consent as well as a subdivision. This often occurs when the new boundary is closer to the existing house than is permitted in the District Plan.

If there is no sewer network in the area, you may also need to discuss with Canterbury Regional Council whether you can install a septic tank or other disposal system on the subdivided site.

The easiest way to do this is to look at the Ashburton District Planning Maps.

The Government has announced a ‘Plan Stop’ which means that Councils are unable to make changes to their District Plans except in some circumstances. This includes rezoning land and changing rules relating to activities.

‘Plan Stop’ will affect the notification of new plan or regional policy statement reviews, changes or variations as well as proposed plans or regional policy statements that are already notified but haven’t reached the hearing stage.

This means that Councils can’t change their District or Regional Plans without getting prior approval from the Minister. Privately requested Plan Changes are not included in ‘Plan Stop’.

Councils have been directed to focus on preparing for the new planning system. For further information please see the ‘Plan Stop -Fact Sheet’.

The government has made changes to allow for ‘granny flats’ or detached minor residential units to be built under the National Environmental Standards for Detached Minor Residential Units (NES DMRU) The changes are operative from 15 January 2026. Certain requirements must be met in order to not require a resource consent. These include requirements on the size of the building, the setback from neighbours, building coverage, and setback from the principal residential unit.

The NES MDRU containing the requirements for MDRUs can be found here. MDRUs which cannot meet the requirements of the NES DMRU are likely to require a resource consent under the Ashburton District Plan.

There is a special PIM process for DMRUs under the Building Act. Please see the ‘Granny Flats’ section of our website for more information.

Some visitor accommodation is allowed without consent, within specified guest limits. The permitted guest level varies between zones. If the permitted guest level is exceeded a resource consent application is required. Neighbour’s written approval will be requested with all applications being subject to a notification process. A form is available on our website that is required should a neighbour agree to providing their approval. Neighbours are not obligated to provide their written approval.

The District Plan, as a requirement of the Resource Management Act 1991, is a document that has rules that all subdivision, land use activities and development is subject to within the Ashburton District.

Each Council has its own District Plan which sets out its rules for managing natural and physical resources.  This means that while there are some things that are the same across the country, what is permitted without a consent in Ashburton District may not necessarily be permitted in Auckland City and vice versa. This is because there are different issues and opportunities in the each area and what residents want to see happen there is also different.

Note: The Government is replacing the Resource Management Act 1991 with two new Acts, The Planning Act and The Natural Environment Act. See also the FAQ on “Replacement Legislation”

A resource (land use) consent is written approval from Council to use your land in a way that does not comply with the District Plan or for an activity specifically requiring resource consent in the District Plan.

The changes to the RMA in 2017 allowed for certain activities to not require resource consent, these are called Permitted Boundary Exemptions and Temporary and Minor Non compliances.

A boundary exemption is where there is a setback or certain other part of your development which breaches of the District Plan and you have managed to get the affected party approval of your neighbour (note you need a special version of the affected party approval form which is available here.

A temporary or minor non-compliance is where you do breach a rule of the District Plan, but it is so minor that it basically doesn’t have any effect on anyone.

An example might be that the District Plan requires you to have 70sqm of garden space but you have 69.98sqm.

The decision whether you need resource consent is at the Councils discretion and you will need to make an application to Council for this. Please contact the Planning Team in the first instance.

A deposit fee is charged for each resource consent application; additional charges can be payable for processing costs on an actual and reasonable basis. Typically, such charges are payable for applications that require more than the minimal time to be spent on them and / or require a hearing or reports to be commissioned.

Planning fees are set by the Annual Plan & the Long Term Plan. The full list of fees and charges for the current financial year is available here.

Council does not waive fees, except in exceptional circumstances or where there is a clear public benefit. The decision to waive a fee sits with Council, not staff members.

You can read more about making an application, find forms and other relevant information here.

The Council processes most of its non-notified applications within the 20 working days (4 weeks), required by the RMA. The length of time for processing individual resource consents depends on staff workloads and the quality of the application you submit.

If the Council determines that there are people that might be affected by your proposal, the process can take a lot longer and can be up to 100 working days. If we decide that the application is going to need notification, we will contact you and ask if you want to continue.

In certain instances, the Council can reject your application if it does not adequately explain what you are wanting to do or the effects of your project. If you are in any doubt, you should speak to an independent planning professional about how to prepare your application before you submit it.

Quality Planning website
Applying for Resource consent

What you want to do in your application might affect either your neighbours or someone else, for example:

Example:

Your new garage might be too close to a neighbours property and will block out their access to  natural light.

Note: this is an example for explanatory purposes only.

In the situation above, the neighbour would be called an "Affected Party". Council has a duty to make sure that it thinks about who might be affected by a proposal and what the effects of a proposal on them might be. This is called a "notification decision".

If the Council determines that there are affected parties on an application, you may wish to speak to those people and try to get them to sign an affected party approval form and all of the plans and documents. If you do this, please remember that it is not compulsory for them to sign. If they sign the form, the Council must not take account of any effects on them, no matter how bad they might be.

If the Council decides that the application needs to be fully notified, or if you can't get the approval of all of the affected parties, there is an additional cost to proceed which covers the cost of the extra work that we have to do. We will write to you to ask if you want to go ahead with the application before we send out any letters.

Any of this additional fee that is not used by the end of the process can be requested to be refunded, however, if there are extra costs built up which are greater than this fee, you would have to pay these at the end of the process.

If your building activity or project breaches a boundary setback or recession plane (but no other District Plan Standard) and you have your neighbour’s written approval, the project is eligible to apply for a Deemed Permitted Boundary Activity. This is a streamlined form of consent with a reduced processing timeframe of 10 working days and a reduced fee. The fee can be found in this financial year’s fees and charges. A Deemed Permitted Boundary Activity does not apply if the boundary being breached is a road boundary.

Please note: Neighbour’s written approval requires a completed form and signed plans.

Conditions are placed on your consented activity to protect the natural and physical environment for current and future residents. It is your responsibility to follow the conditions placed on your consent. They are designed to avoid or control any negative environmental effects resulting from your activity. For example:

Example:

Your new restaurant is next to a neighbouring house.

In the situation above, the Council might put a condition on the consent saying that people couldn't sit outside after a certain time so that the neighbours weren't disturbed at night.

Note: this is an example for explanatory purposes only.

You can apply to change or cancel conditions of your resource consent under s127 of the Resource Management Act. This is treated like a new application and is generally called a "variation". Where there is a condition on the duration or term of your consent, you cannot apply for a variation to this and need to use the process below.

A variation is only likely to succeed if the effects of what you are proposing are the same or similar to what was originally approved. For example:

Example:

A consent for a preschool which proposed to increase student numbers from 20 to 22

Might be considered to be acceptable, however:

A consent for a preschool which proposed to increase student numbers from 20 to 40 and employ three additional teachers

Might be required to gain a new resource consent.

Note: this is an example for explanatory purposes only.

Resource consents can't be used if they aren't started within a certain period (we call this "lapsing"). Generally, this is five years from the date of the decision but sometimes the conditions on the consent will say that you might have a shorter period to use or, "give effect" to your resource consent.

If you are concerned that you might not be able to use the consent before it lapses, you can apply to us in writing for an extension of time to use the consent. For it to be accepted, we need to be satisfied that there has been good progress made on trying to use the consent and that it is still generally acceptable and that we have received it before the consent lapses.

The 'term of consent' (the life of your consent once you use it) varies depending on the type of consent it is. The term of most consents are unlimited. However, if your consent does have a limited term, there will be a condition on the decision document which will tell you how long it lasts.

If you have a limited term consent, you can apply to replace your consent in the six months before the expiry date. In this case you can continue to operate under the conditions of the original consent until your application to replace the consent is decided.

Resource consents relating to land use generally 'run with the land' and will be transferred when you sell your property or business and the new owner wishes to continue what the consent allows.

The exception to this is where there is a specific condition on the consent which says who the consent can be used by. This is not common on more recent consents but does crop up on older ones.

It is sometimes used in situations where someone wants to put an extra house that we wouldn't generally allow on a property, so that they can look after a sick or elderly relative. The condition stops anybody else using the extra house.

Changing this requires a variation to the consent or in some cases a new consent.

Council staff monitor resource consents to make sure people are doing what their consent says.

Generally if we are concerned that the conditions of a consent are not being complied with, we will first get in contact and discuss the matter with you. However serious and ongoing breaches can lead to enforcement action being taken against the people concerned, up to and including prosecution as a last resort.

The Ministry for the Environment has published a useful guide on this subject, you can read it on their website here.

It is important to note that features on a property like fences and hedges do not always exactly follow a boundary, especially on older properties.

The Certificate of Title for a property will accurately show the dimensions of the site and its boundaries. There should also be survey pegs on each corner of the site. Sometimes these can be covered or removed and if they cannot be found, a licensed surveyor will need to be employed to determine where the legal boundary actually is.

For more information, refer to Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).

The Council does not hold copies of Certificates of Title, nor does it generally obtain them for the public. Your solicitor or your surveyor may be able to request a copy or you can contact Land Information New Zealand​ to request one. Please note that there may be a charge for this.

The District Plan contains a schedule of trees within the District that are protected from loss or destruction by the District Plan rules. These trees are considered to contribute to the District’s amenity and/or heritage. Some non-mechanical trimming is allowed in certain circumstances.

If you are planning to do work on a protected tree, it’s very important that you check with Council before you begin any physical works, including in the area around the roots.

National Environmental Standards are regulations made under the RMA which set technical rules and standards across the country. A NES may make an activity permitted or may impose consent requirements.

Common examples include works involving contaminated land requiring a consent or making DMRUs permitted. Please see the Ministry for the Environment’s website for more information on NESs.

National policy statements (NPS) provide direction for matters that are considered to be of national significance including (but not limited to) highly productive land and natural hazards. If a national policy statement applies to your activity the council may require further information when processing an application for subdivision or land use consent. Please see the Ministry for the Environment’s list of national policy statements.

A subdivision is the division of a parcel of land, or lot, into small parcels (sections). This results in the creation of new lots, each with its own distinct title. The most common type of subdivision is fee simple or freehold, which involves the creation of separate titles.  The Council encourages freehold subdivision, although the opportunity exists to create other forms of titles.

The following are the types of subdivision that are used under the New Zealand land title system:

• Fee Simple (Freehold)
• Cross Lease
• Unit Title

It is recommended that you apply for subdivision consent using a licensed cadastral surveyor. Council staff are not able to recommend specific surveyors as we can't be seen to be favouring anyone.

More information on surveyors can be found on the website of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors

The overall cost of a subdivision will vary due to scale, location, and design. Council’s fees and charges do not include the provision of any services provided by external parties including surveyors and contractors. If you have confirmed your land meets the subdivision requirements of the Ashburton District Plan please contact a surveyor for a quote.

Planning fees are set by the annual Plan and LTCCP Council Fees and Charges.

The works must be completed and a completion certificate issued pursuant to Section 224(C) of the RMA, prior to the Section 223 certificate lapsing.  You have 5 years to obtain a s223 certificate and a further 3 years to obtain the s224 completion certificate and have it lodged with Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) for titles to be issued.

Learn more in our subdivision guidance notes

When subdividing your property you will come across both charges. Reserves contributions are collected by the Planning Team and exist to contribute to the development and maintenance of parks established to offset the increasing built environment. The amount to be paid will be listed as a condition of your consent and payment will be required before the Section 224 certificate (see below) can be granted. The charge will reflect the size of your development and is calculated as 5% of the market value of additional residential allotments plus GST.  Development contributions relate to the servicing of the subdivision and are payable at the time of building consent.​

This is a certificate which the Council give when the subdivision has had its final survey and the survey plan conforms with what was approved in the subdivision consent.  It is usually applied for by the consultant surveyor and also includes easements and access arrangements (Rights of Way) for other lots or parcels.  An application fee is required with a 223 Certificate.