Pātai: Transpower’s corridor land use management enquiry portal.
Pātai, in Te Reo Māori, means to ask, question, enquire, cross-examine, provoke, challenge.
This online portal is where you can submit enquiries (pātai) to Transpower NZ Ltd relating to land use around Transpower’s National Grid assets (high voltage transmission lines, structures and substations) that may involve a Resource Management Act (RMA) process. If you have a resource consent condition requiring you to submit a management plan for Transpower review and certification, you can also submit that here.
RMA processes include possible resource consent applications, notice of requirement applications, consent notices, and requests for affected party approval or RMA section 176/178 approval for works within a designation.
Pātai provides a single point of contact for RMA enquiries and enables the enquirer to monitor the status of their enquiry through to the final response from Transpower.
Pātai also provides information regarding Transpower setback requirements around its National Grid Assets and resources to help guide you in designing a safe and compatible development.
You can use this portal to submit enquiries regarding:
- New (or extensions to existing) “sensitive” buildings (refer FAQs for definition);
- Subdivisions;
- Other buildings, earthworks or land use activities which require resource consent;
- RMA Affected party approval requests; and
- RMA Section 176 approval requests (except for underground cables which are processed by Before U Dig and Northpower).
You can also submit management plans for review and certification (Form 5), where one is required by a resource consent condition.
If your resource consent query is not covered above, you can use “Form 4: request for comments on a land use proposal”.
If your enquiry does not involve an RMA process, Pātai is not the right place to submit your enquiry. Check HERE to find the correct Transpower team to handle your enquiry.
For pre-purchase property or LIM enquiries, please contact your local council. Although National Grid transmission lines are owned by Transpower, the rules applying to them are council rules within their district plans. The council’s duty planner will be able to advise what National Grid rules in their district plan apply to your site and proposal, including whether or not resource consent may be required.
Before making your enquiry, please ensure the lines or structures are not local lines and are Transpower National Grid assets. To be sure, you can check your property HERE.
Please note that Pātai is not monitored outside of normal business hours, on Public Holidays, or during the RMA Christmas holiday period (20th December to 10th January in the following year). Pātai enquiries will not be processed during this Christmas holiday period.
You can find further information here on Pātai:
You can also find information about Transpower's requirements for development near the National Grid on the Transpower website.