The Environmental Legal Assistance Fund provides a maximum of $30,000 (excluding GST) to assist environmental, community, iwi or hapu groups prepare, mediate and/or present resource management cases to the Environment Court.
The Fund is intended to assist with costs associated with time and expenses of legal counsel, representatives and/or expert witnesses used in preparation for resolving and/or presenting cases before the Court.
Funding is not available for:
- the costs of members of applicant groups in any event
- the sundry costs of non-incorporated groups
- the costs of establishing the group as a legal entity
- the ongoing costs of the group, such as capital costs and rent
- costs awarded by the court against a group or individuals of the group
- work on the case that has already been completed prior to the application being lodged.
Who can apply?
The Fund is not available for individuals. To qualify you must be a not-for-profit group. This includes incorporated societies, non-profit trusts, iwi and hapu groups and non-incorporated groups.
The group that applies must itself be a party to proceedings before the Court. Where individuals are registered as parties to proceedings, even when they purport to act "on behalf of" or "for" groups etc., they will not be considered for funding.
It is worth remembering that proceedings in the Environment Court expose parties to an award of costs which can be for or against your group. Therefore, it is recommended that before participating in proceedings in the Environment Court you carefully consider financial liability. Becoming an incorporated society is one way of protecting individual committee members from having to personally pay any award of costs against the group.
Criteria for funding
If your case possesses some of the qualities outlined below you will have a good change of obtaining Environmental Legal Assistance:
- the matter before the court is of environmental public interest
- the focus of the case is the protection or enhancement of environmental qualities
- the case affects the wider community or general public
- there is likely to be an imbalance between the level or quality of evidence and case management due to a lack of financial resources
- the group has shown why financial assistance is required.
However, these are not the only criteria, other matters are also considered by the Advisory Panel, including:
- the commitment of the group and the resources they can contribute
- the groups ability to manage the case and previous experience in legal cases
- the prospects of success for the case
- whether the case is unreasonable (frivolous) or undesirable (vexatious)
- whether the group has a financial interest in the outcome
- any overlap with other parties' cases
- whether the group is open to mediation.
Note, that the Fund is not available for council hearings. It can only be utilised for Environment Court processes. Cases before the High Court and Court of Appeal will also be considered, particularly where the relevant environment court case was funded by the Environmental Legal Assistance Fund and where the group is defending a successful outcome from the environment court.
How does my group apply?
Application forms
If you are a legal entity attach a copy of your Certificate of Incorporation and your group's mandate/rules. If you are not a legal entity you must attach the following:
- provide recognition from the court that your group is a party before the court in the proceedings, and
- document the membership of the group and provide proof of the members and history of the group, and
- have more than one individual who has authority to sign documents, including the ELA Fund Application Form, on behalf of the group, and
- include a mandate from the group granting those members authority to sign, and
- provide information that the group has structures in place to act as a group, i.e., evidence of regular meetings, bank account information.
If you are an iwi, hapu or Maori group and you are not an incorporated group or a trust, include the same information as required for a group which is not a legal entity.
Other information required
Include a short resume about your group's legal representatives and expert witnesses which outlines their relevant qualifications and experience and include a quote for their time ELA quote template (26K). Provide evidence from your legal counsel as to whether they have a current practising certificate.
Where insufficient information is provided a request will be made for additional information. The Advisory Panel will not be asked to assess your application until all the required information has been provided.
Applying for multiple plan process applications
If your group is involved in a number of cases arising out of the same plan process, the Ministry, if it is to provide funding, will do so only after considering all the cases that you are involved in.
In this context, the "Plan process" means appeals relating to regional policy statements, regional and district plan reviews, plan changes or variations.
Accordingly, if your group is involved in more than one case arising out of the same plan process you only need make one application to cover all the cases. However, this application must cover all the issues and cases that are the subject of the plan process involving your group and should detail:
- how and to what extent any of these cases are interrelated
- the plan process that the cases relate to
- the counsel to be engaged
- what evidence by whom is proposed
- all information relating to any interlocutory proceedings and other procedural matters that may have taken place
- where known, any related parties involved in supporting the issues for which the group wants funding (eg, the Council, other groups) and what issues they are contesting.
Your group will be expected to prioritise the cases and/or related issues, and if funding is made available, it will be fixed in a sum that enables you to participate in those cases with the highest priority. That funding will not be limited to $30,000 plus GST. On the other hand neither will it be based on a possible maximum of $30,000 plus GST for each issue or case, arising out of the same plan process.
Lodging application
Send your group's application to:
Environmental Legal Assistance Fund
Ministry for the Environment
Level 7, Te Waipounamu House
158 Hereford Street
PO Box 1345
Christchurch
Processing applications normally takes six to eight weeks.
Who determines my group's application?
Once your group has applied for Environmental Legal Assistance your application will be examined by an external Advisory Panel. Members on the Panel are appointed by the Secretary for the Environment. The present members are:
- Dr Royden Somerville QC (Chair)
- Mr Alan Dormer of Auckland, Barrister
- Kate Mitcalfe of Wellington, Lawyer
- Huhana Smith of Kapiti, Senior Curator Maori
- Helen Tobin of Wellington, Planning Consultant
- Simon Smale, of Rotorua, Landscape Architect
The Advisory Panel provides the Secretary with recommendations as to funding. The Secretary then makes the final decision.
What happens if my group is successful?
If you are successful in your application your group will be expected to enter into a Deed of Funding with the Ministry setting out the terms and conditions of funding. Your group will be required to report back and provide:
- an update on the success of the case
- feedback regarding the value of funding received
- a summary of money spent
- a copy of the decision
- an update on case progress by 1 June of each year until a decision on the case is reached.
The Ministry will pay only on invoices from the group's legal representatives and expert witnesses identified in the Deed of Funding. The invoices must be made out to the Ministry for the Environment. Generally, the Deed of Funding begins from the date the application was first received by the Ministry. Costs incurred by the group before this date will not be eligible for funding.
More information
For more information contact:
The ELA Coordinator
Ministry for the Environment
PO Box 1345
Christchurch
Telephone (03) 365 9267 or (03) 365 9556
Fax (03) 365 9560
Email elafund@mfe.govt.nz
Further information is available at http://www.mfe.govt.nz/withyou/funding/ela.html
