Resource Management Act reforms: Chris Bishop tells councils to stop plan changes

RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop holding up a copy of the RMA. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Chris Bishop has told councils to stop changing their plans, saying that plan changes ahead of the Government’s Resource Management Act reforms will only waste ratepayers’ money.

Bishop, the Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform Minister, said the Government will “suspend councils’ mandatory RMA requirements to undertake plan and regional policy statement reviews every 10 years, and the requirement to implement national planning standards”.

“We will also extend the restriction on notifying freshwater planning instruments which we put in place last year,” he said.

This will take some of the burden off councils to change their plans ahead of the new RMA system taking effect in 2027.

“The Resource Management Act has crippled New Zealand for decades, and the Government’s planning system reforms are well under way to make it easier to get things done in New Zealand,” Bishop said.

The Government is currently consulting on wide-ranging reforms to the RMA.

The result of that consultation will be introduced to Parliament later this year, repealing the RMA and replacing it with two new bills.

“Later this year, the Government will introduce two new acts to completely replace the RMA – one act to focus on land-use planning and the second to focus on the natural environment,” Bishop said.

“The new system will provide a framework that makes it easier to plan and deliver infrastructure as well as protect the environment.”

As a result of the suspension of plan changes, councils will be required to withdraw plan reviews and changes that have not started hearings as soon as possible and within 90 days of the law coming into effect.

Any rules that have immediate legal effect will continue to apply until the plan review or plan change is withdrawn by councils and then those rules will no longer apply. Bishop said the Government will also stop new plan changes and reviews from being notified, except where there is good reason for them to continue.

“This decision has been made after careful consideration, and a recommendation from an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) that the Government relieve some of the workload of councils in the lead up to the new resource management system,” Bishop said.

“The Government’s intention is that stopping plan requirements for councils will enable them to focus on critical work to prepare to transition to the new system.”