- Hon Chris Bishop
The coalition Government's second RMA Amendment Bill, introduced to Parliament this week, will help drive economic growth and increased productivity by making it easier to get things done in New Zealand," RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says.
"Our second RMA Amendment Bill is a precursor to full replacement of the RMA and will make important changes in the short-term to make it quicker and simpler to consent renewable energy, boost housing supply, and reduce red tape for the primary sector."
The changes in the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill are in five broad categories.
Infrastructure and Energy package
"These changes will help give effect to the government's Electrify NZ reforms, making it easier to get renewable energy built in New Zealand. The Bill establishes a default maximum of one year for consenting renewable energy projects, increases default consent durations for renewable energy to 35 years and for other long-lived infrastructure, and increases consent default lapse periods for renewable energy from 5 years to 10 years," Mr Bishop says.
"The Bill also extends coastal permits for 13 major ports by 20 years as their existing coastal port permits are due to expire in 2026, increases designation lapse periods from 5 years to 10 years, and streamlines consenting and designation processes."
Housing
"The Housing package includes reforms to enable the first pillar of the Government's Going for Housing Growth policy. The Bill provides for new Ministerial intervention powers to require councils to amend part or all of any document (eg, amend a Housing and Business Development Capacity Assessment in the NPS on Urban Development 2020) that they are required by national direction to prepare," Mr Bishop says.
"It also provides a power for the Minister for the Environment to direct councils to use a specific plan change process (eg the Streamlined Planning Process) in the event of non-compliance with any national direction more generally, and changes the Streamlined Planning Process to require the use of an Independent Hearings Panel, it enables the responsible Minister to appoint up to half the members of the Panel, and makes the council, instead of the Minister, the final decision-maker.
"The Bill also provides councils with the flexibility to opt out of the Medium Density Residential Standards, if they can show they have provided for 30 years of housing growth in their district and unitary plans."
Heritage
"The Bill will also allow Councils to de-list heritage buildings identified in their district plans using a faster Streamlined Planning Process (SPP)," Mr Bishop says.
"At present if Councils wish to remove a building from the heritage list, they use a standard plan making process. This process is complicated and convoluted. It has many steps, takes a long time to progress, and has broad rights of appeal meaning even if a Council goes through the process the outcome is far from certain.
"Under the changes introduced by this Bill, Councils will be able to apply to the Minister for the Environment for an SPP that is of an appropriate scale to the issue being addressed. For example, an SPP plan change to de-list one specific building will be much smaller in scale and will have narrower rights of appeal, meaning it can be progressed more quickly and with more certainty than the status quo.
"The changes for housing and heritage will work in conjunction with National Direction."
Farming and Primary Sector package
"Changes in the farming and primary sector package will help unlock primary sector productivity, by reducing the regulatory overlap between the RMA and the Fisheries Act 1996. It will also make farm plan certification more practical and cost-effective; as well as making sure resource consent applications for wood processing are decided within one year. The Bill will also provide clarity to councils and industry on how discharge rules under section 70 of the RMA should be managed," Mr Bishop says.
Emergency and Natural Hazards package
"The Bill introduces new regulation-making powers to support emergency responses and recovery efforts. It will enable councils to decline land-use consents, or apply conditions on consents, where the natural hazard risk is significant. The Bill also provides that new natural hazards rules will have immediate legal effect.
Resource Management System Improvements
"Finally, the Bill introduces a series of sensible system changes, including higher penalties for non-compliance, changes to how resource consent applications are dealt with to increase certainty for applicants, the prohibiting of insurance that indemnifies a person against financial penalties for RMA offences, and increases to the term of excessive noise directions from 72 hours to 8 days.
"The government's RMA Reform programme is happening in three phases. We repealed the previous government's excessively complicated reforms through Phase One before Christmas last year. Now in Phase Two we're implementing a one-stop-shop fast-track consenting regime and driving important change through this Bill and prior legislation passed earlier this year. Phase Two also contains a suite of national direction instruments.
"In Phase Three, we'll fully replace the RMA with a new regime premised on the enjoyment of private property rights. Changes in this Bill, and the national direction changes we'll make next year, will carry over into Phase Three."
The Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill will have its first reading next week and is expected to pass into law in mid-2025.
Note to Editor
Attached:
- Fact Sheet: Key proposals in Bill
- Fact Sheet: Heritage plan change comparison
