Controversial RMA reform inches closer

Long-awaited changes are on track to be passed this year, despite concerns

The Resource Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 passed its first reading in Parliament at the end of last year by 92 votes to 14, and is currently before the Local Government and Environmental Select Committee.

Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith said the broad support shows that the Bill proposes moderate, sensible reform.

“A key feature of this set of reforms is greater national direction to improve consistency, set clear guidance for councils and cut out unnecessary duplication of environment controls across the country,” said Dr Smith.

“These changes support a range of initiatives to improve housing affordability. Councils will need to proactively plan to have enough residential and business land for population growth.”

He said that the Bill will introduce a national planning template to improve the consistency of planning across New Zealand, giving councils greater flexibility when tackling issues such as housing.

“Plan-making can be sped up and made more flexible, so councils can address urgent local issues, such as housing shortages. The proposed changes will reduce the number of [resource] consents by thousands each year.

“The Bill will simplify the consenting process to reduce costs and unnecessary delays, so [resource] consents fit the scale of the proposed activity. Some minor activities will no longer require resource consents and a new ten-day fast-track consent will be available for simple projects.”

Other changes include adding the management of significant risks from  natural hazards to section 6 of the RMA and making the cost of resource consents more transparent.

Changes go too far?

In a submission on the Bill that focused on six sets of amendments, Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright said that the proposed changes went too far.

“It is my overall impression that the proposed amendments give powers to the minister which are too broad.”

While acknowledging that the government drove a number of the changes because of a concern about the lack of affordable housing, Dr Wright said there were better ways for them to address the issue.

One amendment the commissioner specifically criticised was the introduction of a new section, 360d.

Paraphrasing in her submission, she said the change would enable the Minister to:

– Permit a specified land use if it is reasonable.
– Stop councils making unreasonable rules that limit residential development.
– Remove existing unreasonable rules that limit residential development.

“I can see how such regulations could be used to improve the housing situation in Auckland, but regulations are most appropriate for dealing with matters that can be narrowly specified,” she said. “The government has other tools it can use, such as speeding up the preparation of the proposed National
Policy Statement on Urban Development.”

She also cited the national planning template as going beyond a standard pattern for council plans, recommending, “that the national planning template be limited to matters of structure, definitions, methods, optional content and content that automatically follows from existing central government direction”.

Two laws, not one

Given that the RMA is 25 years old and has been amended many times, Dr Wright suggested it might be time for a fundamental rethink about how we protect our environment and plan our cities.

“One possibility that has been raised is two laws: one for environmental protection and one for urban development. I fully support examining this; we should always be thinking about how we can do things better.”

The select committee’s report is due later this year on 3 July.