Environment Minister David Parker says the new legislation will shorten the time it takes to approve new homes and key infrastructure projects. Photo / Bevan Conley
Environment Minister David Parker says the new legislation will shorten the time it takes to approve new homes and key infrastructure projects. Photo / Bevan Conley
A roadshow speaking out against the Government’s proposed Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms will hit Whanganui next month.
It has been organised by Federated Farmers of New Zealand, which submitted a 33-page document on the RMA reforms in February.
One of its biggest gripes is shifting land use planning toregional planning committees, keeping it “at arm’s length” from local communities.
Whanganui Federated Farmers president Robert Ervine said he had been “appalled” by what he had seen of the reforms so far.
“You’ve got people saying it will clog the courts up for years. How can that be a good thing?” Ervine said.
One example in Federated Farmers’ submission is the need for key decisions, such as the National Planning Framework, to uphold the “interconnectedness of all parts of the environment” and not compromise the “wellbeing of future generations”.
“How open-ended do you want to make a statement?” Ervine said.
“I’m disappointed that supposedly so much time has been spent on this by [Environment Minister] David Parker and his minions and this is all he’s managed to come up with.”
Parker said the reform would be enacted before the election.
“For more than six months, the Environment Select Committee has heard submissions on the complex detail in the reform legislation - that was the appropriate place to raise concerns about the specifics,” Parker said.
“All submitters’ concerns have been fully considered and the bill will respond to those submissions when reported back to Parliament.”
Engaging with the legislative process was the right way to express objections, “rather than political grandstanding”, Parker said.
“The RMA reform results from widely-accepted failings in the current legislation,” he said.
“As minister, I have repeatedly been told by both development and environmental interests that the current law is falling short, with worsening outcomes for all, despite repeated tinkering by successive governments over many years.”
The three proposed acts in the reform are the Natural and Built Environment Act (NBA, the main replacement for the RMA), Spatial Planning Act (SPA) and Climate Adaptation Act (CAA).
More than 100 RMA plans will be reduced to 15 regional plans to try to streamline the process and make resource consent cheaper.
A full transition to the new system is expected to take about 10 years.
Ervine said the current system, although flawed, was still better than what was being proposed.
“I also feel there is an element, by default, of the Government taking out local government,” he said.
“If we take out the planning element of local government and we take away the Three Waters element of local government, what’s left?
“A couple of libraries and a couple of parks that need mowing. Job done.”
Whanganui Federated Farmers president Robert Ervine. Photo / Bevan Conley
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) director of policy and advocacy Grace Hall said councils were concerned their decisions around resource management matters would be eroded through the new system.
Only having one representative from each council on a regional planning committee was an example of that, Hall said.
“That could potentially diminish the input that individual councils will have into decisions that will affect what their places look and feel like.
“This is a fundamental shift from the current system, where you actually have the councils producing the plans.”
Hall said councils would recognise that for some matters there may be benefits to taking a co-ordinated regional approach, particularly around spatial planning.
“It’s how you make sure you’re able to really reflect the unique circumstances of individual communities in regional planning documents.
“We know, for example, how different Whanganui is to Palmerston North.”
Hall said the real challenge would be the time it took to transition to and implement the new system.
One of LGNZ’s concerns was a lack of information for the public and council staff on the reform and a lack of understanding of what it involved, particularly given the significance resource management planning decisions had.
Parker said the new legislation would cut red tape, lower costs and shorten the time it took to approve new homes and key infrastructure projects.
It would also provide much improved environmental protection over time.
“Fewer consents will be needed because more activities will become permitted,” Parker said.
“Plans will follow standardised formats and be easier to follow.
“The highly-successful fast track consenting process introduced as a Covid response will be re-introduced, this time permanently.”
The current Resource Management Act came into effect in 1991.
Federated Farmers’ nine-stop roadshow, a partnership with the Taxpayers Union, comes to Whanganui on June 10 in the Concert Chamber at the War Memorial Centre.
