Holiday alert: Please note that kerbside collections between 25-27 December and 1-3 January will be pushed out a day (even recyclers need a holiday). For more on Rubbish & Recycling in our district, see our dedicated webpage.

Council offices will close at midday Wednesday 24 December 2025 and reopen 8.00am Monday 5 January 2026. For urgent issues, call us on 03 441 0499 (Queenstown) or 03 443 0024 (Wānaka). For non-urgent issues, please us the Snap Send Solve App. We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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National Policy Statements and National Environmental Standards

Under the Resource Management Act, central government is in charge of preparing national policy statements and national environmental standards.

These set out the overarching national policy direction for Councils to deal with resource management issues.  When drafting policy and making resource consent decisions, QLDC must take these into account and follow the direction.

National Environmental Standards set out prescribed technical standards, methods or other requirements for environmental matters. Every Council must enforce these standards to enable a consistent approach and decision-making process. The National Environmental Standards, along with the District Plan set out whether resource consent is required or not.

The National Policy Statements and National Environmental Standards can be found on the Ministry for the Environment website: https://environment.govt.nz/acts-and-regulations/national-direction/

Resource consent may be required for a project from QLDC under the requirements of the National Environmental Standards.