Latest news with #RMAAmendmentBill
Scoop
3 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Council Pushes Ahead With Changes Despite Government's ‘Plan-Stop' Policy
Marlborough's council will charge ahead with changes aimed at airline safety, despite the Government pushing pause on plan amendments. The district council's environment plan changes aim to ensure buildings or objects that could compromise aircraft safety could not be built close to Marlborough's three airports. Resource Management Act (RMA) reform minister Chris Bishop announced on Wednesday the Government wants to stop councils from passing amendments to environment and land use plans. Councils should not be wasting resources on making changes to plans under the RMA, ahead of major reforms expected in 2027, he said. 'Even though councils know the RMA's days are numbered, many are required to continue with time-consuming, expensive plan-making processes under the RMA,' Bishop said. 'The Government's intention is that stopping plan requirements for councils will enable them to focus on critical work to prepare to transition to the new system.' Councils would be required to withdraw any planned changes that had not progressed to hearings within 90 days of the RMA Amendment Bill coming into effect in early August. The Marlborough District Council environment and planning committee unanimously voted to prepare a change to their Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan on Thursday, 24 hours after Bishop's announcement. Council strategic planner Clementine Rankin said the planned change would ensure buildings or objects that could compromise aircraft safety could not be built within the vicinity of Marlborough's three airports. 'For safety purposes, it's critical to provide protection for air corridors used in approaches to, and departures from, our airports,' Rankin said. 'It is a civil aviation safety issue when structures like buildings or frost fans penetrate into [air corridors].' Visual and structural objects that penetrated into an airport's approach air space were already prohibited under Civil Aviation Authority rules. But the council could not legally deny resource consents for people who wanted to build those objects without a change to the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan. Rankin said there were recently constructed frost fans that had become a safety risk. 'This issue has occurred due to the focus [in rural zoning] on noise only. 'The controlled activity rule does not include an airport protection standard.' Rankin said that the council would move forward with the plan change, despite Bishop's announcement, and would ask the Environment Minister for an exemption if they had to. Only private plan changes, natural hazard changes, and changes directed by the minister were automatically exempt. All other exemptions had to be requested from the minister within three months of the policy becoming law. Councillor David Croad greeted the announcement with a shake of his head, calling it 'disingenuous'. 'I don't often participate in politics, but yesterday's plan-stop thing, [saying] 'we're stopping that because we want to save ratepayers' money', it's a little bit disingenuous in my opinion,' Croad said. 'Ultimately it implies that the staff that we have in our planning departments are going to go home and go off payroll for a period of time. 'We have great people in this building and it takes a while to build good teams. 'We just don't get to turn these things on and off at will.'
Scoop
5 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Government To Stop Council Plan Changes
Minister Responsible for RMA Reform The Government will stop councils wasting their officers' time and their ratepayers' money on plan changes in advance of the new planning system coming into force, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says. 'The Resource Management Act (RMA) has crippled New Zealand for decades, and the Government's planning system reforms are well underway to make it easier to get things done in New Zealand,' Mr Bishop says. 'We've already made a series of quick and targeted amendments to provide relief to our primary sector and passed the Fast-track Approvals Act to speed up the consenting process for projects with regional or nationally significant benefits. We've also opened consultation on sweeping changes to the regulations that sit under the RMA, and next month our second RMA Amendment Bill is expected to pass into law which 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. 'Later this year the Government will introduce two new Acts to completely replace the RMA – one Act to focus on land-use planning and the second to focus on the natural environment. The new system will provide a framework that makes it easier to plan and deliver infrastructure as well as protect the environment. 'The existing RMA mandates that councils review their plans and policy statements every ten years. This has led to a situation where, even though councils know the RMA's days are numbered, many are required to continue with time consuming, expensive plan-making processes under the RMA. 'Much of this planning work won't be completed or implemented by the time the new system takes effect in 2027. Even if it were, it would need significant changes in the next couple of years to comply with the new planning laws. 'So rather than let these pricey, pointless planning and policy processes play out, the Government will be giving councils clarity on where to focus their efforts while they await the new planning system. 'The Government will suspend councils' mandatory RMA requirements to undertake plan and regional policy statement reviews every ten years, and the requirement to implement national planning standards. We will also extend the restriction on notifying freshwater planning instruments which we put in place last year. 'Councils will be required to withdraw plan reviews and changes that have not started hearings as soon as possible and within 90 days of the law coming into effect. Any rules that have immediate legal effect will continue to apply until the plan review or plan change is withdrawn by councils and then those rules will no longer apply. We will also stop new plan changes and reviews from being notified, except where there is good reason for them to continue. 'This decision has been made after careful consideration, and a recommendation from an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) that the Government relieve some of the workload of councils in the lead up to the new resource management system. 'The Government's intention is that stopping plan requirements for councils will enable them to focus on critical work to prepare to transition to the new system.' Exemption pathways and notification 'Plan reviews and changes will be stopped through an Amendment Paper to the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill, which is expected to become law next month. There are a limited number of plan changes that will be automatically exempt from the stopping of a plan change. Examples of automatic exemptions include Streamlined Planning Processes and private plan changes (which are initiated by landowners and developers). 'The Government believes it's also important that councils can continue work on proposed plans, or parts of proposed plans, that relate to natural hazard management as well as for plan changes required by Treaty settlement agreements. Proposed plans that address these matters will be subject to an exemption. 'The proposed amendment also allows councils to apply to the Minister for the Environment for an exemption to continue or notify a new plan change. 'I want to be clear that stopping plan changes does not mean stopping progress on work that supports the Government's priorities in areas like housing, intensification and urban development, and councils will have pathways to continue with work that unlocks housing growth,' Minister Bishop says.
Scoop
29-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Electrifying Growth: Infrastructure And Energy RMA National Direction Open For Consultation
Minister for RMA Reform Hon Simon Watts Minister for Energy The Government is taking action to address the country's infrastructure deficit and energy shortage through a series of important changes to national direction under the RMA, say RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Energy Minister Simon Watts. National direction refers to rules and policies sitting under the Resource Management Act (RMA) that inform how councils develop and implement local plans and rules. The Government is today releasing three discussion documents proposing amendments to twelve different instruments and the introduction of four new instruments, centred on three packages: infrastructure and development, the primary sector and freshwater. 'The RMA is a direct contributor to New Zealand's infrastructure deficit. It drives up costs, slows projects down, and has become a complicated nightmare for councils and applicants alike', says Mr Bishop. 'Sorting out our planning rules is critical to boosting economic growth and improving living standards. 'In our first year in office, we repealed Labour's botched RMA reforms and made a series of quick and targeted amendments to remove unnecessary regulations for primary industries as well as barriers to investment in development and infrastructure. 'We also passed the Fast-track Approvals Act to make it much easier to deliver infrastructure and other development projects with significant regional or national benefits. The first projects are already going through the fast-track process. 'Next year we'll replace the RMA with new legislation premised on property rights. Our new system will provide a framework that makes it easier to plan and deliver infrastructure and energy projects, as well as protecting the environment. 'In the meantime, we're making targeted, quick changes through our second RMA Amendment Bill which is expected back from the Environment Committee next month, and these changes to national direction. 'We're proposing a new National Policy Statement for Infrastructure to send a clear message that infrastructure is critical to our prosperity, and to prioritise existing and new infrastructure in resource consent processes. 'We're also proposing a strengthened National Policy Statement for Renewable Electricity Generation. The current NPS was drafted in 2011 and is far too vague and woolly. Decision-makers need clear guidance that renewable energy is vital to our prosperity. We need billions of dollars of investment in the coming years in renewable energy supply but it's too hard to consent renewable energy projects'. 'This Government is committed to unleashing transmission and distribution infrastructure on our mission to electrify the New Zealand economy,' Mr Watts says. 'We know the energy system is facing complex challenges right now. The security and reliability of our electricity supply depend on bringing new generation online and strengthening our network infrastructure. 'Right now, New Zealand's energy infrastructure is vulnerable to severe weather events and seasonal shortages. By changing the electricity generation and transmission national direction, we can improve both energy security and affordability, while helping us achieve our goal of doubling renewable energy by 2050. The changes will also support the country's existing renewable energy assets, including lines networks.' 'The current environmental standards around telecommunication facilities were drafted in 2016 and are now very out of date. Changes to the standards will update rules around poles and other infrastructure and create a more efficient consenting environment', Mr Bishop says. 'Cabinet has also agreed to progress new national direction for Natural Hazards. The aim for the new National Policy Statement for Natural Hazards is to make straightforward changes that will have an immediate effect on consenting as well as align with the new resource management system.' 'We want councils to make better choices about where and how people can build so that new development is more resilient to severe weather events. Further direction to councils around how to identify, assess and respond to risks from natural hazards can be provided as part of the next stage of resource management reform'. Consultation on these proposals will remain open until 27 July 2025. The Government intends to have 16 new or updated national direction instruments in place by the end of this year. Notes: Fact sheet attached here. Infrastructure and development is one of three national direction packages released today as part of the Government's wider reform of the resource management system. The other two packages cover changes for the primary sector and freshwater management.
