New Food Act Fees and Charges adopted by Council

Fees and charges relating to food safety will change from 30 May 2016.

At its meeting today Council supported the changes which now focus more on food production rather than the premises where food is made.

Consultation on the fees ran between March and April this year and came about because a New Food Act was introduced, which is replacing the Food Hygiene Regulations Act. This means that how our Council registers, verifies and delivers compliance has also changed.

Businesses will change over to the new rules at different times. During this period, some businesses will continue to operate under the Food Act 1981 and Food Hygiene Regulations. The new charges will be effective from 30 May 2016.

The new fees will only apply to premises that register under the Food Act 2014. Existing premises that have not transitioned will continue to pay the existing Council fees set under the Health Act 1966 and the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974.

Food businesses transitioning from the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974 to the Food Act 2014 will be able to transfer fees on a pro rata basis to the Food Act registration.

To see a list of the fees and charges see the Food Act 2014 page on our website.

Changes to the RMA Fees and Charges

Our Council also voted at the 18 May Meeting to increase slightly some of the administrative fees and charges set under the Resource Management Act. These fees and charges are to recover the cost of processing applications and consents for things like subdivisions and resource consents.

"After a review, we found that the current charges fall short of covering the cost of providing these services. The new charges better reflect the average actual costs," says Planning Manager Michael Jones.

The new fees and charges take effect 1 July. For full details of the changes and the reasons behind them, go to our RMA Fees and Charges page in our Consultation Portal

Here are a few examples of the proposed changes:

Subdivision consents

Section 223 Certificate (Survey Plan Approval) - Fixed Initial Deposit Charge.
Currently: $360. As of 1 July: $380.

Preparation and signing of any bond, covenant, legal document, etc - Set fee.
Currently: $320 plus document preparation. As of 1 July: $350 plus document preparation.

Resource Consents

Non-notified applications for land use consent:

Controlled activities - Fixed Initial Deposit Charge.
Currently: $1,100. As of 1 July: $1,200

Discretionary Activities - Fixed Initial Deposit Charge.
Currently: $1,600. As of 1 July: $1,700.

Miscellaneous charges

Pre-hearing meetings - Fixed Initial Deposit Charge.
Currently: $750. As of 1 July: $800.

Additional charges - per hour:
Planners: Currently: $144. As of 1 July: $150.
Engineers: Currently: $144. As of 1 July: $150.
Administration: Currently: $72. As of 1 July: $85.

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