Restricted Discretionary Activity
A restricted discretionary activity is an activity that is required to have a Resource consent in order to undertake it. The consent is required from the District, City or Regional Council, which ever has made the activity a restrictive discretionary activity under their plan.
Under the Resource Management Act 1991a restrictive discretionary activity is defined as -
Section 77B - Types of activities
(2) ...
(3) If an activity is described in this Act, regulations, or a plan or proposed plan as a restricted discretionary activity,—
(a) a resource consent is required for the activity; and
(b) the consent authority must specify in the plan or proposed plan matters to which it has restricted its discretion; and
(c) the consent authority's powers to decline a resource consent and to impose conditions are restricted to matters that have been specified under paragraph (b); and
(d) the activity must comply with the standards, terms, or conditions, if any, specified in the plan or proposed plan.
What this means is that unlike a controlled activity, the Council may turn down an application due to the effects of the proposal being considered too great and that there is no way of minimising the effects. However this refusal can only be made on certain aspects (or crieteria) that have been identified in the plan. For example if access to a site is considered as a controlled activity, and the minimum size is considered on a restricted discretionary activity, then the proposal cannot be refused because the access is not adequate.
Click here for more information on Discretionary Activities
