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Checking a TMP before you submit: what councils send back under NZGTTM

Under NZGTTM, councils review your risk thinking, not just your layout. Before you submit, check that the TMP includes a site-specific risk assessment, that every significant risk has a control, that the layouts match the risk assessment, and that you've explained any knock-on risks and why stronger controls weren't reasonably practicable.

What changed: councils now review the risk assessment

Under CoPTTM, a council mostly checked that your layout matched the code. Under NZGTTM, the council reads your risk assessment and asks whether your controls actually manage the risks at that site.

Councils have started enforcing this:

When a council returns a TMP or gives feedback on it, you fix it and resubmit, and it goes back for another review. Most of what gets sent back is predictable, and you can check for it before you submit.

What a council reviewer asks

Auckland Transport's CAR Processing Guidelines (August 2025) set out how its CAR Managers peer review an NZGTTM TMP. The reviewer first forms their own view of the site's risks, then reads your TMP forms together and asks:

AT's guidelines say that if there is feedback, the TMP has not been accepted, which AT treats as "similar to a decline" in My WorkSites, its online CAR portal. You fix it and resubmit for another peer review.

Other councils ask the same questions in their own words. Queenstown Lakes District Council publishes its own NZGTTM alignment checklist (Tool G) for applicants to complete before they submit, and for its reviewers to use.

What gets TMPs sent back

Across the published council guidance, the same gaps come up again and again:

Check it yourself before you submit

A short routine catches most of these:

  1. Read the TMP as the reviewer would. Picture the site and list the risks you'd expect: traffic, people, buses, access, events. Then check your risk assessment covers each one.
  2. Make every risk specific. Each risk should say who could be harmed, how, and how badly, at this site and at these times.
  3. Trace each significant risk to a control, and each control to the layout. If a control is in the risk assessment but not on the TMD, or the other way round, fix it.
  4. Look for knock-on effects. A detour, a lane closure or a footpath diversion can create new risks somewhere else. Show how you manage them.
  5. Justify your choices. Where you've used a lower-level control, say why stronger ones weren't reasonably practicable.
  6. Check the footprint and the stages. Make sure every layout fits the real work, including plant and vehicle movements, for every stage.
  7. Check the facts match everywhere. Dates, road names, speeds and road levels should be the same in the forms and on every drawing.
  8. Check local rules. Read your council's own guidance, conditions and any restricted areas or periods. See NZGTTM deadlines by council.

For a fuller list to work through, see An NZGTTM TMP checklist before you submit.

A second set of eyes

A fresh read helps: a colleague, a senior designer or an internal reviewer. Under NZGTTM that matters more, because the reviewer is testing your reasoning, not just your layout.

The Xuro Review Engine can be one of those reads. It reads the whole TMP package against NZGTTM or CoPTTM, checks the forms against the drawings, and points to the page behind each possible issue, with the clause where one applies. It doesn't approve plans: you and your organisation stay responsible for every TMP you submit.

Questions

Will a council reject my TMP if it doesn't include a risk assessment?

It can. Since 4 May 2026, Auckland Transport returns Corridor Access Requests without a risk assessment or risk control plan at triage. Christchurch City Council requires a risk assessment for every site-specific TMP. Check your own council's current requirements before you submit.

Do I have to use the NZGTTM TMP forms?

It depends on the council. Christchurch City Council said in September 2026 that it no longer requires the NZGTTM standard form, as long as your documents clearly show the risk assessment, the fundamental TTM controls and the detailed site design. Auckland Transport's guidelines describe the NZGTTM planning, general and TMD forms.

What do council reviewers look for in an NZGTTM TMP?

Whether your risk assessment identifies the real risks at the site, whether your controls manage them, whether knock-on risks are covered, whether the residual risk is acceptable, and whether your layouts match the risk assessment. Auckland Transport's CAR Processing Guidelines list these questions in full.

Can I reuse a generic risk assessment?

Not for a site-specific TMP. Queenstown Lakes District Council asks for risks specific to the activity, site and timing, and Christchurch City Council encourages everyone to avoid generic assessments for specific sites.

Does a pre-submission check guarantee my TMP will be accepted?

No. Only the road controlling authority accepts a TMP. A careful check, by you, a colleague or a tool, just makes it more likely the council has nothing to send back.

Sources

Last checked: 22 October 2026