David Benson-Pope: Clean and green won't be the prey of development

COMMENT

Protecting our environment is a strategic investment in New Zealand's future. To those groups and political parties who would like to see the Resource Management Act gutted and development proceed at the expense of local communities and the environment, let me make it clear - it isn't going to happen.

As New Zealanders, we value our clean environment and the lifestyles we have developed around it. The Government is not pretending the act is perfect. We are reviewing it. We want to find more certainty of process for those seeking consents but we will not water down the act's ability to protect the environment.

The National Party's prescription for the act is to severely limit who can have a say. Local communities would be bypassed and there would be little ability for them to help solve the environmental problems that affect them.

This takes us back to the days of the National Development Act and the Clyde Dam legislation, where locals were shut out and projects half-built before discovering they were neither economic nor environmentally sound.

The Government's objectives have been to build a stronger economy but also to empower local communities to make decisions about local environmental issues.

Cutting back on public involvement to fast-track new roads and infrastructure is a ticket to shoddy and haphazard development.

Local government would be the first to acknowledge that with major infrastructure projects, for example, more guidance is needed to find the right balance between national and local interests.

Achieving that balance in plan and consent decision-making is one of five key areas we are examining in the review programme. Overall, we know practice by local bodies has improved steadily over the past 12 years but that some councils still fall short.

For too long, local government has struggled on its own to develop simple, effective and consistent environmental controls. Therefore, last week the Government introduced the first batch of national environmental standards. These covered, among other things, air quality, activities that produce dioxins and other toxins, and the design of wood-burners.

National environmental standards will give more certainty to councils, industry, and individuals, across regions. Another initiative to improve decision-making at the council level is a professional development scheme for councillors and independent commissioners who are making policy and decisions under the Resource Management Act.

Delays with appeals to the Environment Court have been slashed by more than half since 2001 because of a substantial boost in funding and a new system for managing appeals. The time from the start of a hearing to its conclusion has also been reduced, often by as much as 40 per cent.

Despite what some people would tell you, the Resource Management Act is a good one. Now we are working to make it work better for all New Zealanders.

If you believe the doom and gloom brigade, New Zealand ground to a halt shortly after 1991, the year the act came into force. They'd have you believe that we've had no new roads, no new power infrastructure - in fact, that all projects requiring any sort of resource consent must have been cancelled.

Of course it's nonsense. In 2003 the New Zealand economy grew 3.5 per cent, against an OECD average of 2.2 per cent.

About 50,000 resource consents are issued by local government each year, with fewer than 1 per cent (about 300) being declined.

An OECD international comparison of environmental compliance costs shows New Zealand is a better place to be doing business than many of our competitors - including Australia. The sky isn't falling. Somehow though, the Resource Management Act has become an easy target.

Maybe because we rarely hear about the resource consent applications that went smoothly - the majority.

There have been at least 20 new energy generation plants, not all yet built, including hydro, thermal, geothermal and wind power. Nor has the act stopped the development of telecommunications, wastewater infrastructure or even the natural gas and oil industries.

What the 1991 introduction of the act did mean was that for the first time we were able to look at our environment as a whole, both at a planning and a decision-making level. What we are now proposing is action to reduce delays, eliminate unnecessary costs and ensure full opportunities for participation by affected parties.

We don't think the Resource Management Act is fatally flawed.

It is an important environmental safeguard. But we've got a number of timely, sensible and well-thought-out solutions to make it work better for all New Zealanders.

* David Benson-Pope is the minister leading the review of the Resource Management Act.