Creswell resource consent to be notified

14 December 2017

The Regional Council will publicly notify a resource consent application associated with the expansion of an existing water bottling plant located in Otakiri. The application, made by Creswell New Zealand, will be publicly notified today (Thursday 14 December). This means any person (other than a trade competitor) will have the opportunity to lodge a submission in support and/or opposition, or to indicate a neutral position with respect to the application.

Owned by Nongfu Spring Co Limited, Creswell lodged their consent applications on 4 August 2017.

Consents Manager for Regional Council, Reuben Fraser, says this application was processed like any other under criteria set out in the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA).

“The RMA sets clear guidelines around when consent applications must, and must not, be notified. In this case we had discretion and have opted to notify on the basis that we will likely be able to make a more informed decision following a public process,” says Mr Fraser.

“There are several stages to the resource consent process and we are now part way through. Submissions will be accepted from today until 5pm Monday 5 February. Following the submission period we will look at the next steps which will likely include appointing commissioners and holding a hearing,” he says.

“This is not a quick process and we are a while off confirming whether consent will be granted,” he says.

Regional Council is required by law to accept and process all complete consent applications for any kind of water use. Each consent application is assessed and considered on a case-by-case, and first in-first served basis.

Details about notified consent applications and how to make a submission are available at www.boprc.govt.nz/resourceconsents and information about how water is allocated is available at www.boprc.govt.nz/wateruse

Under current legislation Regional Council do not have the ability to charge for water.

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