Development contributions FAQs

A Development Contribution (DC) is a levy on new developments. They are collected under the Local Government Act 2002 and are there to ensure the costs of extra demand on council infrastructure from the development are not imposed on the community.

Development Contributions are assessed for:

• District Wide Reserves
• District Wide community facilities
• District Wide Roading
• Roads and Transport
• Stormwater
• Wastewater
• Water

Development Contributions are usually paid for residential development (new houses), non-residential development (commercial, industrial, or retail), subdivisions, new connections, and for certain changes of land use.

Development Contributions are used to provide new or expanded infrastructure such as roads, water supply and parks.

An applicant may request a reconsideration of the development contribution payable on their development where there are grounds to believe that the council has incorrectly applied its development contributions policy, or the development contribution levies were incorrectly calculated.

For more information on lodging a reconsideration request, please review the reconsideration process in section 12.2 (page 20) of the 2025 Development Contributions Policy.

The connection fee is for the physical works only and not for the main pipes that have been built with capacity for new connections.

Additional development contributions may be required where new or extended catchments have been implemented since the subdivision was undertaken. For example, there is now a wastewater catchment and development contribution in Ngaruawahia that may be charged on building consents. Additional development contributions will also be required where a building consent is for more than one HEU on a title. See the questions on additional dwellings or independent living areas for more information.

For a residential building consent, a credit of one HEU applies for the development contributions that were paid at the time of subdivision. Additional development contributions may be required where new or extended catchments have been implemented since the subdivision was undertaken. Development contributions may also be required where a building consent is for more than one HEU on a title.

For a non-residential building consent, a credit of one 100m² applies for the development contributions that were paid at the time of subdivision. Additional development contributions will be required on the building consent for the additional GFA and ISA proposed.

For more details see section 11.9 of the 2025 Development Contributions Policy.

Non-residential development contributions will be calculated for the non-residential activity based on Gross Floor Area (GFA) for water, wastewater, roads & transport and district-wide roading depending on what catchments apply. Stormwater development contributions will be calculated based on the developed Impervious Surface Area (ISA) of the site. No Development contributions apply for reserves or community facilities as these are not applicable to non-residential development.

For specific information on a proposed development email

DevelopmentContributions@waidc.govt.nz

Please include the address of the site and the proposed GFA and ISA

Review Appendix 1: Development Contribution Levies 2021 Development Contributions Policy - 2024 Enhanced Annual Plan levies 2025/26 Financial Year.

We will not consider postponements of contributions payable under the policy.

Your development will still use District Wide Reserves, District Wide Community Facilities, District Wide Roading and Roads and Transport so you need to pay your share to develop these.

Development Contributions are for your share of the cost of the trunk services, treatment plants and roads that your development connects to.

Is it 45.00 square metres or less?

Then 0.5 Household Equivalent Unit (HEU) is payable for the development contributions in the relevant catchment for the services that are provided.

Is it larger than 45.01 square metres and less than 70.00 square metres?

One bedroom - Then development contributions will be charged at 0.5 HEU for the services provided in the relevant catchment.

Two bedrooms - Then development contributions will be charged at 0.75 HEU for the services provided in the relevant catchment.

Three bedrooms or more - Then development contributions will be charged at 1 HEU for the services provided in the relevant catchment.

Is it 70.01 square metres or larger?

Then development contributions will be charged at 1 HEU for the services provided in the relevant catchment.

Table 1. Household Equivalent Units (HEU) Minor Dwelling and Papakaainga Housing

The area shown as a bar / Kitchenette highlighted below in yellow enables this area of the dwelling be used as an independent living area and this means that development contributions (DCs) are applicable.

 An independent living area is defined by;

• having a full bathroom (toilet, vanity and bath/shower facilities)
• a separate external entry/exit
• a bar/kitchenette
• space for living/sleeping
• being able to be closed off from the main dwelling