Last Friday I was on Zoom as the Parliamentary Environment Select Committee heard Wellington Regional Council's submission to the proposed Natural and Built Environments Committee.
This "early exposure" of the bill is seeking input to help shape the eventual bill, which will form the first part of three pieces of legislation that will replace the RMA. So critical that we have input, and crucial that we are heard.
As chair of GWRC's Environment Committee I joined our chair Daran Ponter who spoke to the submission we had shaped up and submitted. Here are some key points that I want to share.
The bill removes planning from both regional councils and local district and city councils (eg district plans) and puts them in the hands of a whole new creation called a regional planning committee, which would be governed by appointed people not elected people.
Hence our view that if there was ever a way to disenfranchise councils and communities from the planning process and decisions, this is it.
The Regional Planning Committee represents a significant change to the decision-making and representative role of all councils. It is effectively local government reform by stealth — another 16 local government entities — and who needs that? I don't know anyone who is pitching more local government entities.
The bill is effectively creating a "third pillar" of local government — a hybrid arrangement that will serve no one well — the very least our environment.
We urged the Select Committee to advocate against regional planning committees, and encouraged them to leave this issue for local government Minister Nanaia Mahuta's local government reform exercise to address.
We should be consolidating the number of councils in New Zealand, not making local government more cumbersome and impenetrable.
I'll pick up on two other important parts of our submission in next week's column.
In the meantime, stay safe.
