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Ngā takoha ā-Whanaketanga
Development contributions

You need to pay a development contribution to the Council if you are subdividing land, building new residential accommodation or a commercial, retail or industrial space.

How it works

Development contributions are a payment made to the Council that pay for the impact that new developments have on services and infrastructure, such as water supply and waste water.

Projects that might require a development contribution include:

  • new houses, flats or apartments
  • subdivision of land
  • adding a new unit/dwelling, including an extra kitchen or kitchenette to an existing dwelling
  • adding to the gross floor area of a commercial building
  • converting some or all of an existing residential dwelling into commercial space, or vice versa
  • new retail, commercial or office space or warehouse buildings.

When you don't need to pay

Development contributions may not be required if:

  • the Council has imposed a condition for a financial contribution on a resource consent for the same purpose
  • the developer has made a private agreement with the Council to provide network infrastructure upgrades or reserves in lieu of paying a development contribution
  • the Council receives funding from a third party.

Fees

Council staff will work out how much you need to pay when your development is assessed for its building consent, resource consent or service connection.

The fees are calculated based on where the development is located and the number of household equivalent units (HUEs) created by the project.

You pay one HUE for each:

  • residential development with more than one bedroom – for example, a house, an apartment or a self-contained unit
  • allotment of land within a fee-simple subdivision
  • 100m2 of floor area in a non-residential development.

List of development contributions by location (93KB PDF)

For more information, refer to our full Development Contributions Policy.

HUE credits

In some cases, you may be able to get HUE credits to offset against what you need to pay.

For residential developments, a credit only applies if there is an existing dwelling that you are either:

  • demolishing and rebuilding – you get a credit for the existing dwelling on the same site
  • changing from a one-bedroom dwelling to a multiple room dwelling – you get a relative credit for the existing dwelling and will need to pay the difference.

For commercial developments, credits are based on the number of square metres. They will only apply if you are:

  • demolishing some or all of an existing building and rebuilding on the same site (if you are demolishing a residential building, there is a maximum of 1 HUE credit per residential dwelling)
  • altering an existing commercial space into multiple residential units.

For more information, refer to our Development Contributions Policy.

Contest your assessment

If you want to contest the Council's assessment of:

  • a residential development, you can request a remission hearing
  • a commercial development, you can do a special assessment.

The first step is to contact the Development Contributions Officer. They are available Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm or by email: developmentcontributions@wcc.govt.nz.

Please note: Before we can accept a reconsideration, special assessment or an objection request, a deposit of $1,400 will need to be paid. Officers time will be charged at $261.50 an hour and related expenses will be on-charged. At the end of the process applicants will either receive a refund of unused fees or an additional fee based on the aforementioned rates. Council has always had the ability to charge this fee but as it has never been shown on a schedule of fees, so it has not been imposed. The implementation of the charge means it now aligns with existing policy.

How to pay

1. Get an estimate from the Council

The Council will assess whether you need to pay a development contribution and send you an estimate when you apply for a:

  • resource consent (for fee-simple subdivisions)
  • building consent
  • service connection.

2. Complete the work

Once you have completed the work and you apply for a code of compliance certificate, a section 224(c) certificate or a consent for a service connection the Council will calculate the final development contribution amount and send you an invoice for this amount.

You won't get your code compliance certificate and/or your section 224(c) certificate until the development contribution has been paid.

3. Pay the fee

Contact us

If you need help, email the Development Contributions Officer: developmentcontributions@wcc.govt.nz.

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