Unlikely allies fight RMA appeal limits

An unlikely alliance is forming between big business and environmental groups against a proposed law change they say will shut them out of important planning decisions.

Mall giant Westfield, mining company Winstone Aggregates and environment groups the Forest and Bird Society and the Environmental Defence Society are among more than a dozen submitters who have asked the Government to scrap planned limits to cut down on Environment Court appeals.

They told the Local Government and Environment Committee - in Auckland yesterday and today to hear submissions on more than 100 changes to the Resource Management Act - that businesses and the environment would suffer if the changes went ahead.

Lawyer Douglas Allan, representing the Titirangi Residents and Ratepayers Association, said community groups would end up "throwing everything" at fighting new planning rules, dragging out council hearings, for fear they would not be allowed to appeal.

At the moment, community groups, businesses and land owners who do not like proposed new council rules for their area regularly persuade the court to change them.

The Government hopes to speed up the process by whittling rights of appeal to just legal issues, unless there is special approval from the Environment Court.

Kerry Watson of electricity generator Trustpower said the new limits combined with planned tougher rules on trade competitors could shut companies out of decisions that directly affected their businesses.

Trustpower had spent millions developing its Wairau Hydro Scheme, but under the new rules it could have been barred from challenging plans by the council to divert water away from it before it was built, he said.

Explaining why the change would hurt the environment, Mr Allan gave the example of Waitakere residents' successful fight to cut down the number of sections carved from land near the Waitakere Ranges.

Community groups opposed council subdivision rules and won. Under the new law, they might not have been able to mount a court case, he said.

"[Under the proposal] we will end up with second-rate plans, faster. But it's the quality that matters over time," said Mr Allan.

The Green Party, whose co-leader Dr Russel Norman is on the local government and environment committee, said changes proposed elsewhere would raise rates for home owners, particularly in Auckland.

Auckland Regional Council, North Shore City Council, Manukau City Council and Waikato District Council told the committee removing the non-complying category of development would require an overhaul of district and regional plans if the bill was passed.

At the moment, activities that councils do not want to prohibit outright can be placed under strict controls by giving them a "non-complying" classification.

The Government wants councils to scrap that category and reclassify activities as either prohibited or in the softer category of "discretionary".

BOND SEEN AS MAKING DEMOLITIONS EASIER

A community group that battled to save one of Auckland's oldest hotels says proposed changes to the Resource Management Act would stop it from challenging developers.

Claudia Page of the Masonic Friendly Society, which raised $20,000 for its attempt to save Devonport's historic Masonic Tavern, said community groups would be effectively barred from taking developers to court if they had to lodge a bond with the court first.

The Government wants to reinstate powers for the Environment Court to ask groups for a lump sum up front, to cover opponents' costs if they lose.

Ms Page said the worry and burden would stop community groups from participating in local decisions.

Environment Minister Nick Smith wants to bring in the change to deter groups from long and costly appeals that have little legal merit.

Yesterday Ms Page told the select committee considering changes to the act that community groups did not make the decision to go to court lightly.