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Annual Consent Charges FAQs

All consent holders are required to pay an annual charge that covers the costs of administrating and monitoring of consents.

Find out more about the need for annual consent charges and why they are applied in the FAQs below:

Understanding your annual consent charges

All consent holders are required to pay annual charges that cover the cost of administration and monitoring of their consents, research and management, and compliance related to their activities.

Annual consent charges help cover the costs of managing, monitoring and administering resource consents across Southland.

Depending on the type of consent you hold, charges may contribute to:

  • consent administration and record keeping;
  • compliance monitoring and reporting;
  • environmental science and monitoring programmes;
  • data management and analysis;
  • customer support and consent-related enquiries.

These charges help ensure natural resources are managed fairly and sustainably for current and future users.

Annual consent charges are set under Environment Southland's fees and charges schedule.

When setting charges, Council considers:

  • the cost of providing services;
  • who benefits from those services;
  • legislative requirements;
  • fairness between consent holders and ratepayers.

Where work is undertaken primarily to support consented activities, a greater proportion of costs may be recovered from consent holders.

Invoices and payments

In line with our Long-term Plan, Environment Southland reviews its fees and charges annually to ensure they continue to reflect the actual cost of delivering consent-related services.

Changes may occur due to:

  • inflation and increasing operating costs;
  • improvements to monitoring and compliance systems;
  • changes approved through Council planning and consultation processes.

Fees and charges are set out in the Fees and Charges Schedule 2026-27, along with a document providing more explanation about the recent changes.

You may receive charges for both your current consent and replacement consent if both were active when annual charges were invoiced.

If you no longer require your current consent and surrender it within one week of receiving your invoice, you may be eligible to apply for a remission of the annual charges relating to that consent.

For more information on how to go about this, visit visit our annual charges page or contact us.

Administration charges help cover the day-to-day costs of managing resource consents. This includes maintaining consent records, managing information, issuing reminders and notices, responding to enquiries, and supporting consent holders with consent-related matters.

If you believe there is an error with your annual charges invoice, please contact us as soon as possible.

Our team can review your invoice, explain how the charges were calculated, and discuss any available options.

Go to the annual charges page for a range of forms and information. The current policy for the charges is set out in Environment Southland’s Fees and Charges Schedule 2026-27.

Please phone 0800 76 88 45 if you have any questions, or send an email to service@es.govt.nz

Using your consent

Annual charges apply to all current resource consents, whether they are actively being used or not.

Holding a consent reserves the right to use a resource or undertake an activity in the future. In some cases, this can affect the availability of resources for other users, which is why annual charges still apply.

If you no longer require a consent, you may wish to discuss surrendering or amending it with us.

No, consents are unable to be placed on hold.

In some circumstances, yes.

If your consent authorises more water, discharge volume, or activity than you require, you may be able to apply to amend your consent. This could reduce future annual charges.

Contact us to discuss whether this option may be suitable for your situation.

Science and monitoring charges

Environmental science and monitoring help us understand the health of Southland's air, land and water resources and support informed resource management decisions.

This work provides information that helps:

  • manage water allocation;
  • understand environmental trends;
  • identify emerging issues;
  • assess the effectiveness of environmental management.

Many consent holders benefit from the information generated through these programmes.

This work includes:

  • monitoring rivers, lakes, estuaries and groundwater;
  • monitoring air quality;
  • assessing water availability and reliability;
  • investigating environmental values and ecosystem health;
  • undertaking research and investigations to support environmental management and policy development.

The information gathered helps us track environmental trends and manage natural resources for current and future generations.

Annual charges are based on what your consent allows you to do, rather than how much of that allocation you use.

Holding a consent reserves access to a resource or activity up to the limits authorised by the consent. As a result, annual charges apply whether the consent is fully used, partly used, or not currently being exercised.

If you no longer need your consent, you can choose to surrender it. If you consistently use less than your authorised amount, you may wish to discuss amending your consent with us.

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