New Plymouth’s council is poised to tell the Government its resource management reforms are muddled, with unknown costs for ratepayers and risks to Māori interests.
New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) staff have drafted a submission on two new Government laws for Planning and for Natural Environment, which would replace the Resource Management Act (RMA).
Councillors will debate the submission at an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday.
It says the new laws include:
- unfunded mandates for councils
- risks to Māori interests
- concerns about costs and implementation times
- a lack of overall purpose or direction on what success means
- a lack clarity on conflict between goals
The Government says its sweeping reforms will streamline planning, make rules consistent across the country, boost economic development and land supply, and strengthen environmental protection and public health.
Under the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill each part of the country would have a single Regional Spatial Plan.
In Taranaki, the Regional Spatial Plan would replace five Regional Plans and three District Plans.
Council officers advised the changes were complex and needed “careful consideration to make sure they’re workable, reflect our district’s aspirations for the natural and built environment, and are consistent with Treaty obligations.”
The draft submission says the new laws would narrow the scope of Māori values and rely too much on Treaty settlements, which in turn depend on rights under the soon-to-be-ditched RMA.
“We are concerned that the narrowed recognition of Māori interests will impact our ability to maintain and enhance relationships with tangata whenua.”
“Over-reliance on identified Māori Land significantly and disproportionately excludes the protection of ancestral land that is of significance but was alienated through confiscation or other processes.”
“The new Bills do not provide for the recognition of kaitiakitanga and broader cultural values.”
The submission says Sites and Areas of Significance to Māori – SASMs – are key to providing for ancestral connections in New Plymouth District.
“New Plymouth District has some of the highest concentration of Sites and Areas of Significance to Māori [SASMs] across the country, and very little ‘Māori land’ due to the history of confiscation.”
Wider heritage planning would also be uncertain.
“Given the unique history of the New Plymouth District (where sites were formed by Māori and later used by European settlers during the NZ Wars) NPDC seeks clear guidance on managing sites with multiple heritage values, or the ability to use bespoke provisions.”
The submission says duplication in the system, with some heritage managed by central government, would be inefficient.
