Info: Fast-track team offline 25 December 2025 to 4 January 2026
The contact centre closes at midday on 24 December. The application portal and this website remain available throughout the break.
Fast-track projects can involve land exchange
Land exchange is where the applicant exchanges land for:
a conservation area or part of a conservation area
a Crown-owned reserve or part of a Crown-owned reserve.
For example, a project might propose exchanging conservation land for other land with high conservation value, to allow development works to go ahead while benefitting the conservation estate overall.
Land exchanges – Fast-track Approvals Act 2024 – New Zealand legislation website
Applying for land exchange
If you want to apply for land exchange for your Fast-track project, you must apply after your project is listed or referred but before making a substantive application.
Before applying for land exchange, you must consult the Director-General of Conservation. You'll find information about pre-lodgement consultation on the Department of Conservation (DOC) website.
Fast-track Approvals Act and DOC – Department of Conservation website
To apply for a land exchange, apply directly to DOC using the land exchange application form on their website. The form describes the information and documents required.
Following the land exchange application process, the Director-General of Conservation will prepare their report. Substantive applications seeking land exchange approvals must not be lodged without a land exchange report from the Director-General of Conservation.
Land exchange levy and application fee
You must pay a land exchange levy and application fee. When you submit your application, we will send you an invoice. Your application isn’t considered lodged until the levy and fee are paid.
More detail: Fees, charges and cost recovery
Director-General’s report on land exchange
The Director-General of Conservation prepares a report on land exchange, which the panel will use when assessing your substantive application.
The assessment process
The Director-General of Conservation notifies the panel convener when they receive a land exchange application. We publish the land exchange application on the project’s page on the Fast-track website.
Once an application has been lodged, the Director-General has 15 working days to decide whether it is complete and within scope. You will be notified of this decision, which is also published on the Fast-track website.
The panel convener and the Director-General of Conservation will agree on a timeframe for the report to be provided to the applicant.
If an application is accepted as complete and within scope, DOC invites written comments from the parties specified in the Act. These comments and the Director-General’s report are published on the Fast-track website.
If an application is assessed as incomplete, it is returned to the applicant. You can choose to prepare and lodge a new land exchange application. Any new application could be subject to additional costs.
What happens after the land exchange report is received
Applicants must not lodge a substantive application until they receive the Director-General’s report.
The report must be provided as part of the substantive application. It is assessed by the expert panel as part of the substantive application process. The panel can also request or commission advice on the land exchange during the substantive process.
More detail: Substantive application for resource consents and other approvals