Ele Ludemann: Getting from no to yes

The RMA has made it far to easy for those with the power to say no, and far too long for them to say yes.

That is going to change:

The Government’s new planning legislation to will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court.

“The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build the infrastructure and houses New Zealand desperately needs, too hard to use our abundant natural resources, and hasn’t resulted in better management of our natural environment,” Mr Bishop says.

“Replacing the RMA with new legislation premised on property rights is critical to the government’s mission of growing the economy and lifting living standards for New Zealanders. . .

Basing the new legislation on property rights is a very big and positive step towards growth and progress.

It allows landowners to do anything they want unless, and until, it will affect other people or the environment.

Last year the government repealed Labour’s RMA reforms and made welcome amendments that loosened restrictions on farming.

The new legislation will be much more liberal than the 1000 plus pages of the RMA. It will cut the red tape and put property rights back where they should be.

“Turning our economy around requires changing the culture of ‘no’ that permeates decision making in New Zealand. Whether it’s aquaculture off the coast of the South Island or a new green building replacing a heritage gravel pit next to a train station in the centre of our biggest city, the RMA has obstructed growth instead of enabling it.

“That’s all about to change. Enough is enough. . .

We’ve had more than enough of too many nos and the long and torturous process to too few yeses that have added costs, restricted progress and fueled inflation.

“Economic analysis undertaken on the Blueprint’s proposals show that they are estimated to deliver a 45% improvement in administrative and compliance costs when compared to the current system. Similar analysis done on the last Government’s RMA replacement estimated that it would deliver only a 7% reduction in process costs.”

Key features of the new system include:

• Two Acts: A Planning Act focused on regulating the use, development and enjoyment of land, along with a Natural Environment Act focused on the use, protection and enhancement of the natural environment.

• A narrowed approach to effects management: The new system will be based on the economic concept of “externalities”. Effects that are borne solely by the party undertaking the activity will not be controlled by the new system (for example, interior building layouts or exterior aspects of buildings that have no impact on neighbouring properties such as the size and configuration of apartments, the provision of balconies, and the configuration of outdoor open spaces for a private dwelling). Matters such as effects on trade competition will be excluded.

• Property Rights: Both Acts will include starting presumptions that a land use is enabled, unless there is a significant enough impact on either the ability of others to use their own land or on the natural environment. This will reduce the scope of effects being regulated and enable more activities to take place as of right. There will be clear protection for lawfully established existing use rights, including the potential for the reasonable expansion of existing activities over time where the site is ‘zoned or owned’. There will be a requirement for regulatory justification reports if departing from approaches to regulation standardised at the national level. Compensation may happen for regulatory takings in some circumstances. There will be an expansion in the range of permitted activities.

• Simplified National Direction: One set of national policy direction under each Act will simplify, streamline, and direct local government plans and decision-making in the system. Direction under the Natural Environment Act will cover freshwater, indigenous biodiversity and coastal policy. Direction under the new Planning Act will cover urban development, infrastructure (including renewable energy) and natural hazards.

• Environmental limits: A clearer legislative basis for setting environmental limits for our natural environment will provide more certainty around where development can and should be enabled, whilst protecting the environment.

• Greater use of standardisation: Nationally set standards, including standardised land use zones, will provide significant system benefits and efficiencies. The new legislation will provide for greater standardisation, while still maintaining local decision making over the things that matter.

• Spatial Plans: Each region will be required to have a spatial plan, focused on identifying sufficient future urban development areas, development areas that are being prioritised for public investment and existing and planned infrastructure corridors and strategic sites.

• Streamlining of council plans: A combined plan will include a spatial planning chapter, an environment chapter and planning chapters (one per territorial authority district).

• Strengthening environmental compliance monitoring and enforcement: To safeguard the environment, a national compliance regulator with a regional presence will be established – taking over a function currently done poorly by regional councils. . .

Standardized zoning is a common sense change.

“Right now, every individual council determines the technical rules of each of their zones. Across the country there are 1,175 different kinds of zones. In Japan, which utilises standardised zoning, they have only 13”, Mr Bishop says.

“Standardising these zoning rules will take pressure off ratepayers and make it easier to build more homes for Kiwis. It will also enhance local decision making, allowing elected local representatives to focus more time on deciding where development should and should not occur in their community, and less time on the enormous amount of technical detail that goes into regulating that development.” . . 

“The RMA is akin to a gale force headwind battering against any attempts to develop anything anywhere,” Mr Court says.

“Our population has grown while our infrastructure has crumbled. If we want to retain our status as a first-world nation, we need to build.

“We need to develop homes, schools, hospitals, and roads. We need to develop ports, windfarms, gas fields and farms. Without good infrastructure and easier access to resources, how can we achieve the quality of life New Zealanders expect of a developed nation in the 21st century?

“The RMA’s scope is far too broad and allows far too many people to rely on far too many reasons to object and tangle progress in webs of absurd conditions.

“We must rationalise the system to ensure a tight scope where only those affected get a say, and at the right time. We cannot have Tom, Dick, and Harry weaponise the planning system to block progress from the opposite end of the country.

“We believe that the best way to stop unnecessary red tape is attach a price to it. The new system will protect landowners against regulatory takings, enabling them to seek recourse if found that unjustified restrictions have been placed on their land.” . . .

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These reforms will open he door to investment and progress.

The existing consenting process takes too long, costs too much and is too often used as an anti-competitive measure by potential competitors.

It allows development to be stymied by people and organisations with political and philosophical objections whether or not they would be directly impacted.

It has held back individual and business development and the country’s progress.

The new legislation will play a very big role in changing the culture of no to one of yes.

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.