Resource management reforms

The Government has taken a phased approach to the reform of the resource management system.

Phase One

Phase One was the repeal of the Natural and Built Environment Act and the Spatial Planning Act. This was completed in December 2023.

Read more about the repeal of the Natural and Built Environment Act and the Spatial Planning Act

Read the Minister’s speech to the New Zealand Planning Institute conference on 22 March 2024 [Beehive website].

Read the proactively released Cabinet minute and Cabinet paper on the RM Reform roadmap from 22 March 2024.

Phase Two

Fast-track Approvals Act

Phase Two started with the introduction of the Fast-track Approvals Bill. The Bill was introduced to Parliament in March 2024, before going to the Environment Select Committee for scrutiny. It passed its final readings in Parliament and became law in December 2024.

The Fast-track Approvals Act's purpose is to deliver infrastructure and other development projects with significant regional or national benefits.  

The Act’s one-stop-shop approach consolidates and speeds up the multiple approval processes under different legislation which are typically required for large and/or complex projects.

A broad range of projects will have access to the fast-track process if they meet eligibility criteria.  Projects may include infrastructure, housing, resource extraction, aquaculture, renewable energy, and other developments.

The Act proposes a number of protections for Treaty settlements, other arrangements and Māori rights and interests.

Read more about the Fast-track Approvals Act

First resource management amendment Bill passed 

The Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2024 was introduced to Parliament in May 2024 and came into force on 25 October 2024.  

The Act amends the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and several national direction instruments.    

The Act has nine key changes that:

1. Exclude the hierarchy of obligations in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) from resource consenting while a review and replacement of the NPS-FM is undertaken.
2. Repeal the low slope map and associated requirements from stock exclusion regulations.
3. Repeal the permitted and restricted discretionary activity regulations and associated conditions for intensive winter grazing from the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater (NES-F) and replaces these with new regulations for setbacks from waterways and critical source areas
4. Align the provisions for coal mining with other mineral extraction activities under the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity (NPS-IB), NPS-FM and NES-F.
5. Suspend for three years requirements under the NPS-IB for councils to identify new Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) and include them in district plans. The Bill also extends some SNA implementation timeframes.
6. Speed up and simplify the process for preparing and amending national direction, including national environmental standards, national planning standards, national policy statements and the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement.
7. Clarify councils’ ability to consent discharges that would result in significant adverse effects, provided receiving waters are already subject to such effects, and conditions reduce effects over time.
8. Pause the rollout of freshwater farm plans until work to improve the system is finalised. 
9. Restrict notification of freshwater planning instruments (regional policy statements and plans that give effect to the NPS-FM 2020) until a new NPS-FM takes effect or 31 December 2025. This applies from 22 October 2024.  

Read more about the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2024

Read the Primary Production Select Committee report on the Bill [New Zealand Parliament website]

Earlier announcements on the Bill 

Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill [New Zealand Legislation website]  

First amendment Bill introduced to Parliament (23 May 2024) [Beehive website] 

Urgent changes to system through first RMA amendment Bill (23 April 2024) [Beehive website] 

Second resource management amendment Bill passed

The Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill was introduced to Parliament in December 2024 and passed into law on 20 August 2025.

The Act can be grouped into five themes:

• the infrastructure and energy package
• the housing package
• the farming and primary sector package
• the natural hazards and emergencies package
• the system improvements package.

See more about the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Act 2025 including fact sheets and guidance on the various changes.

This Act will be supported by further changes to national direction instruments through the national direction programme.

National direction programme 

In March 2025, the Government confirmed a refocused package of national direction under the RMA. This would be progressed as part of Phase 2, with a focus on proposals that have an immediate effect on the resource management system while Phase 3 is progressed.   

Proposals to update national direction are open for consultation and are grouped into four packages.  

Packages 1 and 2

Package 1 includes proposals to prepare and amend national direction instruments in infrastructure and development, while package 2 is focused on the primary sector. These proposals include: 

• new national direction for infrastructure, granny flats (minor residential units), papakāinga, and natural hazards
• amendments to national direction for: renewable electricity generation, electricity transmission, distribution and associated activities, telecommunication facilities, freshwater, highly productive land, stock exclusion, marine aquaculture, and commercial forestry
• amendments to the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement
• amendments to quarrying and mining provisions in national direction for freshwater, indigenous biodiversity and highly productive land. 

Package 3

This includes options to amend national direction for freshwater.  

Package 4

This aims to test how the first pillar of the Going for Housing Growth programme could fit into the new planning system. 

Consultation for the first three packages ran from 29 May to 27 July 2025. Consultation on package 4 ran from 18 June to 17 August 2025.

See package 1 & 2 consultation.

See package 3 consultation.

See package 4 consultation.

Read the interim regulatory impact statements on updating the RMA.

Read more on National Direction.

Phase Three

Replacing the RMA

In March 2024, Cabinet agreed that the following objectives would be used to guide work to replace the RMA: 

Make it easier to get things done by: 

• unlocking development capacity for housing and business growth 
• enabling delivery of high-quality infrastructure for the future, including doubling renewable energy 
• enabling primary sector growth and development (including aquaculture, forestry, pastoral farming, horticulture, and mining) 
• while also:
  • safeguarding the natural environment and human health
  • adapting to the effects of climate change and reducing the risks from natural hazards
  • improving regulatory quality in the resource management system
  • upholding Treaty of Waitangi settlements and other related arrangements.

Legislative design principles 

Cabinet also agreed that the following principles would be used to guide the development of proposals to replace the RMA:

1. Narrow the scope of the effects the resource management system controls. 
2. Establish two Acts with clear and distinct purposes – one to manage environmental effects arising from activities and another to enable urban development and infrastructure. 
3. Strengthen and clarify the role of environmental limits and how they are to be developed. 
4. Provide for greater use of national standards to reduce the need for resource consents and to simplify council plans, so that standard-complying activity cannot be subjected to a consent requirement. 
5. Shift the system focus from consenting before works are undertaken to strengthened compliance monitoring and enforcement. 
6. Use spatial planning and a simplified designation process to lower the cost of future infrastructure. 
7. Achieve efficiencies by requiring one regulatory plan per region, jointly prepared by regional and district councils. 
8. Provide for rapid, low-cost resolution of disputes between neighbours and between property-owners and councils, with a Planning Tribunal (or equivalent) providing an accountablity mechanism. 
9. Uphold Treaty of Waitangi settlements and the Crown’s obligations. 
10. Provide faster, cheaper and less litigious processes within shorter, less complex and more accessible legislation. 

Expert Advisory Group

In September 2024, the Government established an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) to prepare a blueprint for legislation to replace the RMA based on the legislative design principles.  

Read the EAG’s terms of reference.

The group was made up of experts with relevant technical knowledge covering subjects, including resource management law, planning and te ao Māori. 

Read the RM Reform Expert Advisory Group members' biographies

In February 2025, the EAG provided a package of 21 key recommendations in the form of a written report.

Read the EAG’s blueprint report.

Given the short time available for what was a substantial task, the EAG had to limit its advice to what it considered to be the most significant aspects of the proposed replacement legislation.

It was also unable to discuss some issues in sufficient depth to reach consensus. For that reason, some recommendations were made by majority. Although Paul Melville was a member of the EAG, he is recorded as having his own view.

Read the minority report.

Cabinet decisions

In March 2025, Cabinet agreed: 

• the EAG’s blueprint report provided a broadly workable basis to start developing new legislation to replace the RMA 
• to proceed with the development of two new Acts – a Planning Act and a Natural Environment Act – with Bills to be introduced in Parliament in 2025 
• key features of the new planning system that were broadly aligned with the EAG’s recommendations 
• to delegate authority to the Minister and Under-Secretary Responsible for RMA Reform to make further policy decisions on the proposed legislation in consultation with other ministers where relevant to their portfolios. 

Read the cabinet paper, minute and regulatory impact statement on replacing the Resource Management Act 1991 – Approach to development of new legislation.

On 1 December 2025, Cabinet agreed to introduce the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill in Parliament before the end of 2025.
 
Read the cabinet paper, minute and the supplementary analysis report for further decisions on replacing the Resource Management Act 1991.

Introduction of Bills  

In December 2025, the Government introduced a Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill in Parliament.

Minister media releases about the new planning system

Planning reform bills pass first reading (Beehive website) 

A better planning system for a better New Zealand (Beehive website) 

Planning overhaul to unlock growth (Beehive website) 

RMA replacement to reduce costs and drive on-farm growth (Beehive website) 

Planning reform to unlock growth (Beehive website) 

Cutting red tape to deliver the infrastructure New Zealand needs (Beehive website) 

Boosting renewable energy through planning reform (Beehive website)

New system to make planning easier for everyone (Beehive website)

Transitioning to the new planning system (Beehive website)

Reports about the new planning system

Economic impact analysis of the proposed resource management reforms

Economic benefits of effective resource management

Unlocking the benefits of environmental data for resource management reform

Economic efficiency assessment for a new planning and environmental management system

Resource management consent data report 

Resource Management (Duration of Consents) Amendment Act

In December 2025, the Government introduced an RMA amendment Act that: 

• automatically extends most resource consents that would otherwise expire before 31 December 2027 until that date 
• reinstates and extends until 31 December 2027 recently expired consents where an application has been made but not yet determined. 

Read more about the Resource Management (Duration of Consents) Amendment Act.

Select committee scrutiny 

Parliament’s Environment Committee completed its scrutiny of the Bills in July 2026. 

The Government aims to pass the Bills into law in 2026. 

Read the Committee’s final report on the Planning Bill (NZ Parliament website) 

Read the final report on the Natural Environment Bill (NZ Parliament website)

Testing the approach to National Policy Direction 

In August 2026, the Government invited feedback on the illustrative National Policy Direction (NPD), a key component of the new planning system. 

The illustrative NPD was developed to show how national direction could operate under the new planning system. It was designed to improve understanding of how national priorities my influence future planning decisions and regional spatial planning. 

Read the iIllustrative National Policy Direction document and learn about this consultation (MCERT Citizen Space website) 

Read the media release consultation launched on Illustrative National Policy Direction (Beehive website)

Bills pass into law 

The Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill had their third reading in the House of Representatives on 22 September 2026. 

The Bills received Royal assent and passed into law on <INSERT DATE>. 

Learn more about why the system is changing, what the new system means for people, communities and businesses, and how it will be introduced over time.

See Planning.govt.nz