3. Options

3.1 Policy objective

• ensuring plan requirements are nationally consistent and achieve the intention of the NPS
• minimising the cost of implementing the NPS
• minimising RMA processing costs and delays.

3.1.1   Evaluation of the policy objective

The purpose of the RMA is “to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources” (including structures). Sustainable management means managing the use, development and protection of natural and physical resources in a way, or at a rate, that enables people and communities to provide for their social, economic and cultural wellbeing, and for their health and safety, while:

• sustaining the potential of natural and physical resources (excluding minerals) to meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations
• safeguarding the life-supporting capacity of air, water, soil and ecosystems
• avoiding, remedying or mitigating any adverse effects of activities on the environment.

The overall objective of having nationally consistent rules on electricity transmission supports the implementation of the NPS, by which it contributes to achieving the purpose of the RMA.

A set of key criteria was developed to assess the effectiveness of several possible options in meeting the purpose of the RMA:

• minimises the cost of implementing the NPS
• provides a nationally consistent framework of consent requirements for transmission activities
• provides for the effective operation, maintenance and upgrading of the network (NPS policies 2 and 5)
• takes account of the operational requirements and technical constraints in determining the level of control on transmission activities (NPS policy 3)
• manages the environmental effects of transmission activities
• minimises RMA processing costs and delays
• is effective within the timeframes specified in the NPS (plan changes processed by April 2012).

3.2 Overview of alternative options

The Minister for the Environment has considered and evaluated a range of options for addressing the problems identified with the status quo. These are:

• non-statutory guidance
• New Zealand standards (developed by Standards New Zealand)
• Ministerial call-in and whole-of-government submission
• designations
• national environmental standards.

These options are discussed below.

3.2.1   Guidance on implementing the NPS

National guidance could be provided on good practice in making plan changes to give effect to the NPS. This could build on current Ministry for the Environment good practice guidance, and could include model plan rules to encourage councils to derive a consistent rule framework. This option might reduce initial costs to councils in preparing proposals for plan rules, but each council would still have to review its plan and propose specific amendments. Amendments could be extensive for plans that deal with transmission activities through a set of zone-based rules (with different requirements for different areas of a district).

The biggest problem with guidance alone is that it is unlikely to result in a set of nationally consistent rules in plans. By the time a set of model rules has been through the plan change consultation process, and the council (and possibly the Environment Court) has considered submissions and appeals, it is likely that the model rules will have been changed considerably.

Although guidance could be relatively effective in ensuring the plan changes notified give effect to the requirements of the NPS, there are no guarantees that this will be the case once the proposed rules have been through a public submission process. The extent to which the eventual rules balance enabling transmission activities with managing environmental effects will be variable, and influenced by the submissions received by each council. The extent to which the new rules minimise RMA processing costs will depend on the eventual requirements.

Guidance could, however, be available in time to be used by councils for plan changes.

3.2.2 Preparation of New Zealand Standards

Standards New Zealand could be invited to assemble a committee of experts and interest groups to prepare a New Zealand Standard (NZS) on model plan rules to give effect to the NPS. A NZS could set out suggested conditions for permitted activities, and consent categories for activities where the effects are more than minor. It could be referenced in plans, in the same way many district plans reference NZS on noise.

The effect of a voluntary NZS would be similar to the effect of guidance (discussed above). A NZS is no more likely to reduce costs to councils, or the number or complexity of submissions on plan changes, and would not ensure national consistency.

3.2.3 Ministerial call-in and whole-of-government submission

Ministerial call-in means that a private plan change or application under the RMA is “called in” and dealt with centrally by a board of inquiry. Call-in could not be used for plan changes initiated by a council because it only applies to private plan changes. Ministerial call-in can be a useful tool for significant upgrades and new lines, and it has been used for the major North Island Grid Upgrade project.

However, the transmission activities that are the subject of this policy investigation are not of a sufficiently large scale to warrant national call-in under the Act as it stands. Call-in of numerous smaller projects would be likely to increase processing costs, and the pressure on resources at a national level would be likely to generate delays. It may improve national consistency in the consideration of applications, but does not affect councils’ rule framework so would have no effect on the other evaluation criteria.

Whole-of-government submissions could be made on plan changes to give effect to the NPS, which might serve to remind councils of the requirements of the NPS and address any deviations from the intention of the NPS. However, a whole-of-government submission is only one of many submissions to be considered by councils in making a decision on plan changes and cannot ensure national consistency. It might contribute marginally to ensuring the criteria relating to implementing the NPS are met, but would not affect the costs of implementing the NPS nor reduce RMA costs and delays.

Whole-of-government submissions could be prepared on consent applications for transmission activities in support of the objective and policies set out in the NPS. However, this would only affect how decisions are made on individual consents; it would not affect the rule framework in plans, which could require consents for very minor activities. Council decision-makers are already required to take account of the NPS in making decisions on resource consents and advising on designations. Council officer reports and council decisions since the NPS came into force appear to be taking the NPS into account effectively. Government submissions on specific applications would not affect the costs of implementing the NPS or improve the national consistency of plan rules. Unless subsequent decisions fail to take account of the NPS, a whole-of-government submission does not seem to be necessary.

Finally, this option does not override plan provisions, which would remain the framework for decision-making, and so the issue of inconsistencies between plans would not be resolved.

3.2.4 Designations

A designation is a planning technique used by Ministers of the Crown, local authorities and network utility operators approved as requiring authorities under section 167 of the RMA. It is a form of “spot zoning” over a site or a route in a district plan. This spot zoning authorises the requiring authority’s work or project without the need for a land-use consent from the relevant district council. It is similar to a resource consent in that it enables a requiring authority to undertake work within the designated area, subject to any conditions applied to it. Any conditions become an integral part of a designation and cannot be severed from it.

A notice of requirement is the way a Minister of the Crown, local authority or requiring authority gives notice to a territorial authority for a designation. A notice of requirement for a new designation must go through public notification, recommendation and a decision-making process before it becomes a designation. A notice of requirement would therefore be issued by Transpower in a similar manner to the way an application for resource consent is notified. The public can make submissions and appeal to the Environment Court in a similar process to that used for resource consent applications. Land owners affected by a designation can apply to the Environment Court for an order obliging the requiring authority to purchase or lease the land.

Designations would provide Transpower with the greatest security of tenure over the transmission network and the right to undertake work on the network without requiring consents from the district council. (Consents would still be required from the regional council.) Designations are a useful tool for new lines and significant major upgrades involving replacing and extending infrastructure, such as the major North Island Grid Upgrade. However, projects of this nature are beyond the scope of the present exercise.

Designations would only be a viable alternative to plan changes or an NES if they were taken out over all the transmission lines in every district. In this instance, a council could argue that the need for rule changes had been overtaken by the inclusion of designations in the plan. This option could increase the cost compared with notifying plan changes, because designations are likely to attract at least as many submissions and appeals as changes to plan rules. There would also be considerable one-off costs to Transpower in preparing notices of requirement over the whole network compared with the cost of a submission to a plan change. Once designations were in place, there would be additional costs in purchasing or leasing an interest in the land covered by the designations. Cost estimates for Transpower acquiring an interest in this land range from around $100 million for rural easements to in excess of a billion dollars for purchasing properties outright.

In addition to the significant costs, designations would differ between districts depending on the outcome of the submission and appeal process. This would not address the lack of consistency that currently exists between regions. It is also unlikely that Transpower could secure designations over many transmission lines by 2012.

3.2.5 National environmental standard

The RMA enables the Minister for the Environment to prepare national environmental standards (NES). These have the force of regulation and are binding on local authorities. NES can prescribe methods or requirements, and can be either quantitative or qualitative. Section 43 of the RMA outlines the matters that can be covered by an NES.

NES are instruments that can apply nationally in circumstances where it is considered that national positive or negative environmental effects are not being fully addressed by local decision-makers. They can capture those wider benefits that might not be fully internalised in decision-making at a regional or local level. Such benefits include providing consistency of controls across the country, providing more certainty, and simplifying the process of policy formulation, monitoring and review.

NES can be more prescriptive than national policy statements and legislation, and this provides some key benefits over the other options. An NES would fulfil the policy objectives by providing certainty about the levels of permitted development provided for transmission activities in every local authority area in New Zealand. The NES’s requirements would also remove any ambiguity over whether or not a particular transmission activity would require resource consent or not.

The NES would override the existing rules for electricity transmission activities in every district plan in New Zealand. A plan change is not required for the NES to become part of a district plan, although some local authorities may choose to undertake a plan change process specifically to incorporate the new rules into their plan. Alternatively, the new rules can be incorporated into a district plan as an administrative change by timing them with another unrelated plan change or as part of the forthcoming review of all district plans required by the RMA. The NES effectively reduces the stock of existing regulation by replacing the variability or absence of rules in 73 district plans with one set of nationally consistent provisions.

3.2.6 Comparison of alternatives: summary

Table 1: Assessment of options for managing the environmental effects of electricity transmission

Key:
  Meets the criterion                          Does not meet the criterion          ~    Partly meets the criterion

Table 2: Summary evaluation of alternatives for addressing the problems identified with the status quo