Greater Wellington Regional Council considered its draft submission on the Government’s proposed resource management reform at its meeting on Thursday.
A report to the meeting recommended the council agree to the more than 50-page draft submission on the RMA replacement, Natural Environment Bill and the Planning Bill.
The proposed reforms are described as “the largest change to resource management in a generation”.
While the draft submission said the council supported parts of the new system, key concerns included possible erosion of mana whenua rights, the status of climate change adaptations, and the public benefits of environmental protections.
It said improvements were needed in a number of areas of the draft bills to make the legislation workable.
“Greater Wellington has significant concerns on the proposed Planning and Natural Environment Bills as currently designed, as they risk undermining decades of partnership-building with mana whenua by diminishing recognition of Māori customary rights, constraining the exercise of kaitiakitanga, and creating significant Treaty and legal risks that will increase cost, complexity, and uncertainty for iwi and local government,” it said.
“The new system must directly enable the Crown to meet its commitments to recognise mana whenua rights and interests in freshwater and geothermal resources, supported by clear and early national direction.”
The report also said the provisions focused solely on private property rights and did not recognise the public benefits of natural environment and human health protections, and that climate change adaptation should be foundational to the system, not peripheral.
The report conceded the current resource management system was slow, costly, complex, and fragmented, and often failed to meet the expectations of communities and mana whenua for enabling development, as well as protecting the environment.
It said the council supported some core elements of the new system, including mandatory regional spatial planning, a more integrated planning system, strengthened collaboration requirements, and improvements to consenting, compliance, monitoring and enforcement.
There was also support for clearer, more comprehensive national direction and national standards, which the report said reduced costs, duplication, and inconsistency across the system - as long as they upheld Māori rights and interests and did not diminish local flexibility.
“This is the largest piece of reform in relation to resource management reform since the reforms of the late 1980s and represents a significant change to our local government function and responsibilities,” it said.
It noted the planning proposals were connected to other reforms impacting local government and regional councils.
The submissions follow the Government’s proposal in December to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA), with two new pieces of legislation.
The Natural Environment Bill would focus on environmental protection and enhancement, and The Planning Bill would focus on the use, development and enjoyment of land.
When RMA reform minister Chris Bishop unveiled the two bills, totalling about 750 pages, in December he said the new planning system would be easier for local government to use, and deliver better value for ratepayers.
““Our new planning system is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to cast off the shackles imposed by the broken Resource Management Act, and set New Zealand on a path to economic growth that lifts our living standards and protects the environment,” he said at the time.
“The new planning system will mean fewer consents, faster decisions and a strong focus on the issues that genuinely matter for communities and the environment.”
A councillor working group, together with officers had drafted the submission, in consultation with subject matter experts within the council. Meetings had also been held with the council’s mana whenua partners and most of its city and district councils.
Submissions to the environment committee on the two bills closed on Friday, February 13.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
