Land affected by contaminants in soil must be identified and assessed before it is developed. If necessary, the land will need to be remediated or the contaminants contained to make it safe for human use.
Our responsibilities are defined in a National Environmental Standard (NES) which is administered under the Resource Management Act. We are required to enforce the requirements of this NES by ensuring contaminated soil is identified and managed to protect human health.
Types of developments that trigger National Environmental Standard (NES) are:
Generally, if the land is, or has been used for a hazardous activity or industry and you want to subdivide or change the use of the land, sample or disturb the soil, or remove an underground fuel storage system, a resource consent may be required.
There are different places where we can get information on previous activities on the land. These are:
There are times when these records do not have sufficient information. In those situations you may be required to seek assistance from a suitably qualified professional (e.g. environmental scientist) to conduct a preliminary site investigation.
The Ministry for the Environment has released the list of hazardous activity and industries list, which is commonly known as HAIL. This list is available on the MFE website.
When we receive resource consent and building consent applications for new developments, we will be checking the previous, current and intended use of the land and if the NES will be triggered by your development. We may require you to submit a preliminary or detailed site investigation and to submit a resource consent application to ensure compliance with the NES.
Property Information Memorandum (PIM):
During the PIM Process we will be checking all the relevant information to determine the activities undertaken on the land. The Planning and Development Team will determine if a site investigation report is required and if resource consent is required to comply with the NES.
Building Consent:
We will be suspending the building consent until we have received the site investigation report as this may affect compliance with the Building Code.
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Page last updated: 10:09am Tue 02 July 2024