The proposed district plan hearing process

The Hearings Panel’s role is to hear submissions and evidence on Proposed District Plan.

Once all points have been heard, the Hearings Panel will make recommendations to council about changes to the Proposed District Plan. The council will make the final decisions based on the recommendations received. This follows the process in the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA).

The Hearing Panel also makes decisions on how hearings will proceed.  The Chair has issued the following directions.

This is a report written by an independent Council Officer (set out in section 42A of the RMA). In this report the Council Officer evaluates the issues raised in submissions and makes recommendations to the Hearings Panel. Each hearing topic will have an associated Officer’s s42A report which will be made available on Council website 20 working days before each hearing.

The Officer’s s42A report is just one part of the evidence the Hearings Panel considers in making their decision, alongside information provided by submitters and evidence from their experts. All information and evidence provided is considered equally by the panel.

Because there is so much information to be considered by the Hearings Panel, it would take too long for this to be read during the hearing itself. The Hearings Panel will read everything in advance of the hearing and use the hearing time predominantly for asking questions. This will help to speed up the hearing process. The submitters evidence, including expert evidence, should be circulated ten working days before the hearing. Submitters who intend to call expert witnesses must make the written evidence of those experts available before the hearing.

The Council Officer’s s42A report and evidence from experts will be publicly available on the Council website before the hearing. At the hearing itself, submitters who do not have experts can bring along additional information to support their original submission; this does not have to be made available before the hearing.

An expert is a person who is recognised in their field for having expertise either through qualifications or experience.

It’s important to note that the panel will only accept ‘expert evidence’ from someone both qualified and independent. This means that if you are the submitter, your submission cannot be considered ‘expert evidence’ because you will not be seen as independent.

In your invitation to the hearing you will be given a scheduled time. You don’t have to come for the whole day if you don’t want to or your other commitments don’t allow it. Hearings are open to the public to observe and there will be an area where you can sit and listen for as long as you like. When it is your turn, you will be asked to come forward and speak to your submission. At this stage, you should introduce yourself and anyone who may be appearing with you.

Following introductions, the chairperson will ask you to speak to your submission. Briefly summarise the main points of your submission along with any recommendations. You may want to share information in support of your submission that will assist the Hearings Panel to understand your submission. Because of time constraints and the fact that the Hearings Panel will have already studied your submission, you should not read it out.

Please provide electronically any supplementary information to hearings panel staff prior to the meeting and bring at least ten copies to a submission hearing.

After you present your submission, the hearings panel will usually ask questions to clarify points in your submission. If there are any other people appearing with you, you may wish to call on them to answer questions.

Sometimes the hearings panel will ask for additional information during the hearing. If you agree to provide the information, you should forward two copies of each item of information requested to the administrator of the hearings panel by an agreed date.

More information on this can be found on the quality planning website or in the Ministry for the Environment Plan Change Hearings Guide.

The following people have the right to speak at a hearing:

• submitters who have requested to be heard and anyone presenting evidence on their behalf
• any other experts presenting evidence on behalf of the council who had a report circulated before the hearing
• any commissioner(s)

Any submitter who did not request to be heard or anyone attending the hearing does not have the right to speak. The council officer does not have an automatic right to speak but is commonly invited to do so by the chair of the Hearings Panel.

After all submitters have been heard on one topic, the Hearings Panel will break to consider the submissions and evidence they have heard. At the end of the hearings process, the panel will deliberate the information heard and make a recommendation to council on issues for the proposed plan. The council will make a final decision on accepting the recommendations or not.

This information has been provided based on Hearing Panel directions. This can change through the hearings process.