On 25 of February 2022, Property Council submitted on the ‘Our Future Resource Management System’ discussion document released by Ministry for the Environment.
This document follows on from the government’s February 2021 announcement that it would reform the resource management system by replacing the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) with three new Acts:
- the Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA),
- the Strategic Planning Act (SPA) and
- the Climate Adaptation Act (CAA).
This process is referred to as the resource management system reform (RM reform).
Why it matters to our members
The current resource management system is broken, and while this RM reform is welcomed, we must ensure that the new Acts can be practically implemented by all stakeholders, including local authorities and property developers.
If we get this wrong, we risk hindering quality development in our cities and regions through legislation that ignores the property ecosystem.
This reform has the potential to shape our cities for generations to come.
Our view
Overall, there is lack of detail on the way in which the future system (i.e. the Natural Built Environment Act and Spatial Planning Act) will interrelate and we have concerns around the alignment of priorities, stakeholder involvement, implementation and how the future system will be funded.
Private sector representation on Regional Spatial Strategies and Natural and Built Environment Plans joint committees is critical to the success of New Zealand’s future resource management system and will ensure better outcomes for all.
Without private sector representation at the joint committee level, we will likely see adverse effects in terms of delays of plans due to initial drafts being unworkable on a practical level and renegotiations having to occur, and/or failure to implement and deliver plans due to inaccuracy and complexity of signalling future development sites.