The RM Reform Update is a regular update from the Ministry for the Environment to people and organisations that have an interest in the reform of the resource management system. If you would like to subscribe to these updates, please click here.
Tēnā koutou katoa,
Over the next few months, we will be sharing the progress we have made developing Aotearoa New Zealand’s future resource management system.
The reform of the RMA has been a long time coming. In 2019, the Government commissioned an expert panel led by Hon Tony Randerson to undertake a comprehensive review of the resource management system. Their report, New Directions for Resource Management in New Zealand published in 2020 provided the blueprint of the new system to create better outcomes for both the natural and built environments and a more responsive system to meet the challenges we face as a nation.
The Panel’s work was not done in a vacuum. It built on the work of many others who advocated for the reform of the system. This included reports from Local Government New Zealand, the Productivity Commission, the Environmental Defence Society, the Property Council, Northern EMA, Infrastructure New Zealand, and the Waitangi Tribunal.
We are now at the stage where the majority of policy decisions for the Natural and Built Environments Act and the Spatial Planning Act have been made and drafting of the new legislation is underway. It has been an exciting but monumental journey and one that has been given priority by this Government.
The Government intends to introduce the Natural and Built Environments Bill and the Spatial Planning Bill to Parliament later this year, aiming for September but possibly October. The third Bill, the Climate Adaptation Bill, is expected to be introduced in 2023.
Over the next few months, the Ministry for the Environment will be helping the public and stakeholders understand the new system through a series of forums, information sessions and symposiums. If you are interested in attending these please contact us at rm.reform@mfe.govt.nz
We hope you will engage in the Select Committee process so we can produce robust legislation that is fit for purpose for the next generation. We can then shift our focus fully on to the implementation of the future system.
Ngā mihi nui,
Janine Smith, Deputy Secretary, Natural and Built System and Climate Mitigation
On 17 June Minister Parker delivered a speech to the LGNZ Rural and Provincial Conference in Wellington giving an overview of the new resource management system and the progress so far.
Protecting and restoring the natural environment, better enabling development within natural environmental limits, giving proper recognition to te Titiri and greater recognition of te ao Māori and mātauranga Māori, improving system efficiency and effectiveness and better preparing for adapting to climate change, risks from natural hazards and better mitigating the emissions which contribute to climate change are all objectives for the future resource management system.
The Minister said the reforms will make the system more efficient by ensuring earlier strategic planning and consolidated plans across each region. Decisions at each level will be better supported by the planning hierarchy with a greater number of permitted activities, less re-litigation of underlying planning issues and fewer consents.
Last month’s Budget provided $179 million over four years for implementation of resource management reform. This will ensure funding to help complete the National Planning Framework, the first Regional Spatial Strategies and NBA plans, and the National Māori entity.
As the shortcomings in RMA implementation show, funding an efficient transition to the new system is crucial to delivering a system which has shorter timeframes, lower costs and better outcomes for New Zealanders. Read the complete Minister’s Speech here.
The Spatial Planning Act will require the development of Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs), which will see central government, local government and Māori working together to identify how their region will grow, adapt and change over the next 30-plus years.
RSSs will integrate planning across different legislative frameworks associated with the management of the natural and built environments. An obvious example is transport planning which needs early integration with land-use planning.
This is the first time there will be a mandatory spatial function across all regions in New Zealand. We have learned from those councils that have a spatial function in place.
RSSs will provide direction for NBA plans and local authority transport and funding plans, and will inform central government investment decisions. Delivery of the RSS will be supported by implementation plans which provide direction to decision-markers. With greater emphasis on planning up front, and stronger, there will be greater clarity on what is permitted and what is not in the Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA) plans. This will flow through to fewer decisions needing to be made at the consenting level.
Each RSS will provide long-term, strategic direction for integrated planning in the region, focusing on the big issues and opportunities facing the region. They will set out a vision, and objectives, to guide the region over the next 30 plus years and be accompanied by a set of priority actions that will help to turn the vision into reality.
RSSs, for example, will identify areas appropriate for development, areas that should be protected or restored, and areas that are subject to constraints, such as sea level rise and other natural hazards. Transport and infrastructure corridors will be identified.
RSSs will provide direction for NBA plans and local authority transport and funding plans and will inform central government investment decisions. Delivery of the RSS will be supported by implementation plans which provide direction to decision-makers. With greater emphasis on planning up front, plans there will be greater clarity on what is permitted and what is not in the NBA plans. This will flow through to fewer decisions needing to be made at the consenting level.
The new National Planning Framework will consolidate the 23 current national direction documents into a single, comprehensive framework. National direction supports local decision-making by providing consistent direction on priority issues of national importance. This includes direction on things such as the National Environmental Standards for Sources of Human Drinking Water (NES-DW) and the National Policy Statement on Urban Development.
The new framework provides direction and guidance to those developing Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) and Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA) plans. This was a crucial, but missing ingredient when the RMA was implemented.
New Infrastructure direction
The NPF will include infrastructure content which will provide much needed direction to regions on how to plan for and enable infrastructure in the Regional Spatial Strategies and Natural and Built Environment Act plans and resolve conflicts that arise.
The infrastructure direction is expected to include a suite of nationally consistent planning and technical standards for infrastructure that should be used in all plans and for consenting decisions. For example, the chapter may list standards for erosion and sediment control. Councils will state which standard must be used but the need to have conditions in applications and consents will be avoided. We are working with the Infrastructure Commission (Te Waihanga) on this new infrastructure chapter to ensure it is robust and workable.
This will build on the Government’s moves to accelerate housing provision, and the infrastructure that supports it.
Natural and Built Environments Act plans are combined plans covering both resource allocation and land use for a region. Over 100 regional policy statements and regional and district plans will be consolidated into around 14 plans, simplifying and improving the integration of the system.
The NBA plans will be developed by a regional planning committee (formerly known as joint committee) comprising of local government and iwi/Māori representatives. There will be stronger guidance on consenting activity categories in the Natural and Built Environments Act to improve consistency for users and greater clarity on what is notified and to whom. NBA plans will be guided by both the National Planning Framework and the relevant Regional Spatial Strategy.
The process will be efficient and robust. It is designed to incentivise participants to provide their input at the earliest stages of plan development.
The Natural and Built Environments Act plan development process has an emphasis on early collaboration and comprehensive policy development, and a shift away from time consuming and costly appeals.
In a process similar to the Auckland Unitary Plan, Independent Hearing Panels (IHPs) will be appointed to consider submissions against the draft plan. If the regional planning committee accepts the recommendation, appeals will be limited to points of law.
The compliance, monitoring and enforcement regime will be in place upon enactment of the NBA with institutional arrangements developed in the next parliamentary term.
The Natural and Built Environments Act will better enable regulators in local government to execute this role more effectively through enhanced cost-recovery provisions, higher maximum fines, a civil-enforcement regime, and a stronger ability to prevent environmental harm before it occurs and to stop it getting worse.
Minister Parker said the RMA had failed to deliver on the opportunities the legislation provided for Māori. The future resource management system will provide a more effective role for Māori locally, regionally and nationally.
A te ao Māori concept – Te Oranga o te Taiao – is at the heart of the reforms, capturing the intergenerational importance of the health and well-being of the natural environment along with its fundamental connection to iwi and hapū.
The Randerson Review Panel recommended – and the Government agrees – that any future system should give effect to the principles of Te Tiriti, better recognise Te Ao Māori and provide a clear role for hapū/iwi/Māori in decision-making.
Māori will have participants on the regional planning committee that will prepare Regional Spatial Strategies and Natural and Built Environments Act plans.
The Ministry and the Local Government Steering Group have worked together on the key matters raised in the advice on local voice and regional planning committee. The focus for discussion has been how the proposals will be operationalised, how the regional planning committee and the secretariat will work alongside and with local government.
We have had some changes to the Steering Group – the current membership is here: Advisory groups for RM Reform | Ministry for the Environment
We met with many mayoral forums and regional planning forums at the end of 2021 and we are currently connecting with these forums again. Our intention is to connect with as many as possible ahead of the introduction of the SPA and NBA Bills to Parliament.
Local Government will continue to be responsible for consenting and for compliance monitoring and enforcement.
Local government will control secretariat arrangements and will be responsible for ensuring that local voice is represented in the system through tools such as Statements of Community Outcomes and other local community plans.
The Local Government Steering Group’s advice on local voice has been particularly valuable.
Local authorities and regional planning committee will have a responsibility to ensure that their Natural and Built Environments Act functions and processes are cost-effective. In practise this means timely, efficient, and consistent.
The effectiveness and efficiency of consents will be aided by the National Planning Framework and Natural and Built Environments Act plans, which we intend will be better drafted than some of their counterparts in the current system.
There will be fewer resource consents than required under the RMA.
We are reducing the number of activities categories from six in the RMA to four in the future system.
When it comes to allowing a particular activity, it will be yes (that is permitted), or probably (controlled), or a maybe (discretionary) or no (prohibited).
The use of RMA mechanisms to request additional information and evidence from applicants has contributed to the major increase in costs and timeframes for consents.
Past amendments to the RMA have failed to adequately address the problem, thanks to a lack of accountability mechanisms. Responsibility for efficiencies will lie with elected councils and mechanisms to ensure they have proper control of their planning departments’ activities will be made clear.
Central government will provide oversight of the future system, integrated national direction and will play an active role in the development of Regional Spatial Strategies.
It will have an oversight role, alongside independent bodies such as the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and the proposed national Māori entity.
The Natural and Built Environments Act and the Spatial Planning are expected to be introduced into Parliament later this year, aiming for September but possibly October with the select committee convening shortly after introduction.
This is significant reform and it is in the interest of all New Zealanders that we get as many people as possible engaging with the new legislation through the Select Committee process so we can produce robust legislation that is fit for purpose for the next generation.
Over the next few months, the Ministry for the Environment will be helping the public and stakeholders understand the new system and what it means for them so that they can meaningfully engage with the new legislation through the select committee.
For more information please on these contact us at rm.reform@mfe.govt.nz
Our focus is starting to shift from system development to transition and implementation of the future system.
As we undertake this shift, we are learning from the past, by making sure we support the implementation of the new system which has been reinforced by recent Budget funding.
Local government is particularly interested in the transition to the new system. We recognise the resource constraints local government is under and the challenges in moving from the RMA to the future resource management system. As a result, we are proposing a tranched implementation process which will see a 7-10 year transition for the whole country to be operating in the new system. This means for many councils there will a be a continuation of current RMA processes for some significant time.
To make sure we get it right, we will support iwi/hapū/Māori and local government in the first regions that develop the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) and Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA) plans. This is called the Model Project.
The goal of the model project is to support the early implementation of the future system, test and resolve issues and provide those early learnings for other regions across the country that will follow. Working with selected regions to develop the first generation of Regional Spatial Strategies and Natural and Built Environments Act plans will be an important part of our implementation work programme.
We are working through selection criteria to determine which regions could comprehensively test the new system in different contexts for other the regions that follow. We will be reaching out with further detail about how the project will run in the coming months.
The Digital Strategy team is looking at digital technologies that could make the resource management system more efficient and effective.
Over the last 18 months, the team has been doing exploratory work looking at opportunities for digital enablement, including a stocktake on the systems currently used across local government for the RM system.
The future resource management system will require better collaborative planning across a region which means data from multiple agencies will be needed. For this collaborative planning to work well, this data will need to be easily moved between systems and shared more easily.
The digital team are looking to work with iwi/ hapū/Māori and local government to overcome some of the system barriers to enable this collaborative plan making.
More information about how you can be involved in this work will be released in the coming weeks – but if you would like to signal your desire to be involved now, please email us at rm.reform@mfe.govt.nz.