RMA out, new rules in, RMA reform minister says

Cabinet has backed the following core design features for the new resource management system:

• refining the system’s scope to focus on managing actual effects on the environment
• establishing two Acts with distinct purposes – one to manage environmental effects resulting from activities and the other to facilitate urban development and infrastructure
• clearly defining and enhancing the role of environmental limits and their development process
• expanding the use of national standards to limit the need for resource consents and simplify council plans; thus, activities that comply with standards cannot be required to obtain consent
• emphasising compliance, monitoring, and enforcement of compliance with national standards over pre-activity consenting
• lowering future infrastructure costs through spatial planning and a simplified designation process
• requiring one regulatory plan per region that is jointly prepared by regional and district councils to improve efficiency
• introducing a low-cost, rapid process of resolving disputes among neighbours, property owners and councils, potentially through a new planning tribunal
• holding to Treaty of Waitangi settlements and the obligations of the Crown
• aimplifying and speeding up processes through brief, more accessible legislation, reducing reliance on litigation

“Putting property rights at the centre of resource management means ditching rules that invite every Tom, Dick, and Harry to vexatiously object to peaceful use and development of private property. Rules should only restrict activity with material spillover effects on other people’s enjoyment of their own property, or on the property rights of the wider natural environment that sustains us”, Court said.

According to Bishop, an expert advisory group has been put together to collaborate with officials from the Ministry for the Environment and other agencies to develop the key details of the new system. The group will be led by environmental barrister and former Environmental Defence Society director Janette Campbell as chair; also joining the group are Paul Melville, Rukumoana Schaafhausen, Kevin Counsell, Gillian Crowcroft, Christine Jones and Mark Chrisp.

“I am delighted at the calibre of the experts who have agreed to work on the new system. They bring critical experience in law, planning, local government, the environment, primary industries, development, economics and Māori rights and interests,” Bishop said.

Court explained that amendments introduced in Phase Two between now and mid-next year are set to transition into the new system.

“Rather than kicking the issue of ‘fixing the RMA’ off to a judge or lawyer to spend years studying before a report is even produced let alone actioned, the government is making it clear from the outset what the design of the new system will look like”, he said.

Key components of the new resource management system are set to be presented to Cabinet for agreement before the year ends. Legislation is expected to be introduced and passed before the next election.