The Government has released the blueprint for resource management reform. The blueprint was prepared by the Expert Advisory Group on Resource Management Reform, and contains recommendations for addressing some of the most persistent criticisms of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA):
- The consenting process is slow and expensive
- The RMA has been amended beyond coherence in places
- The RMA lacks a process for understanding whether interventions (on both the built and natural environment) are actually effective, with consenting and compliance enforcement both over-reliant on forecasts, rather than previous results.
Much like the previous Government's now-repealed reforms, this new proposal would divide the RMA's core functions between two new Acts:
- The Planning Act would focus on land-use planning and regulation
- The Natural Environment Act would focus on the use, protection and enhancement of the natural environment.
Common to both Acts would be a focus on the "enjoyment of property rights" and consistency at a national level. Zoning and environmental controls would both be standardised at a national level, only permitting variation to address local issues in specified, limited circumstances.
While regional and district plans under the RMA are hosted and managed by the councils responsible for them, planning documents under the proposed legislation would form a single, national e-plan for New Zealand. This would be made up of:
- Spatial plans, made under the Planning Act, which would replace regional policy statements. These would map major constraints, future urban areas and growth and development opportunities, and inform infrastructure planning and investment decisions
- Natural environment plans which would replace regional plans, and would manage the use, development and protection of natural resources. These would set environmental limits and allocatable quanta (for allocatable resources)
- District plans, which would now form chapters of a single, region-wide combined district plan. These would set out zones (selected by district councils from a set of nationally-standardised zones) and regulate the use and development of land.
The blueprint also proposes the formation of two new agencies:
- A Planning Tribunal would provide rapid, affordable dispute-resolution and review of council functions, including notification and further information requests
- A national compliance and enforcement regulator, to oversee compliance and enforcement at a national level and undertake "the full range of compliance and enforcement activities currently undertaken by councils".
The blueprint recommends retaining the requirement contained in section 8 of the RMA, which mandates any person exercising powers and function under the RMA to take the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi into account. The blueprint recommends including specific principles to assist in the section's application.
The Expert Advisory Group has advised that the blueprint was prepared in a compressed timeframe, and that they have taken a "high-level approach" as a result. The Government has indicated that detailed policy work and legislative drafting will begin now, with legislation to be introduced to Parliament later this year and passed into law mid-2026.
Our RMA reform experience
Our national environment and resource management team has extensive experience in previous RMA-reform cycles and has been closely following the development of this new legislation, and its likely implications. We are therefore well positioned to advised clients on what these changes might mean for their upcoming projects or existing undertakings and responsibilities. Please contact a member of our team if you would like to discuss the potential implications of the proposed RMA reform and what this may mean for you.
