The Government has just released the two massive new pieces of draft legislation – the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill – to replace the RMA and "radicalise" how this country manages its built and natural environments. It's big (literally), it's bold, and it says it's here to drive growth and development.
Our team was on the ground in Wellington yesterday to hear what politicians and officials had to say. This is the first in a series of articles where we will take you through key aspects of the new system. Stay tuned for some deep dives into our two new Bills. In the meantime, here's our take on the top 10 things we think you need to know.
1. It will be top-down decision making
Decision-making in the new system will work like a "funnel". The system will be more directive – the Bills will sit at the top with a very clear list of goals. The Planning Bill's goals include enabling economic growth and providing infrastructure to meet demand while the Natural Environment Bill's goals seek to enable (among other things) the use of natural resources within environmental limits. While we're pleased to see land use compatibility expressly recognised in the goals of the Planning Bill, broader recognition of reverse sensitivity appears to be lacking on the face of the legislation and will be an area of focus when we work through the detail of the Bill.
The scope of the system narrows at each layer from national direction down to combined regional plans, with more certainty and less opportunity for challenge at each level. This is ultimately intended to reduce the need for resource consents and minimise re-litigation. In practice, it will be critical to get it "right" at the top. This is where the time and effort will need to be spent to reap the claimed benefits.
2. National instruments become fundamental
Nationally-set policy statements and environmental standards will feature extensively – they are a fundamental piece of the new scheme. The Government wants consistency and clarity. We'll see a single national policy direction under each new Act to give clear direction on national priorities, like housing and infrastructure. Below that policy direction is where the action happens, with national standards set to cover the technical detail like environmental limits.
The national instruments will be delivered in two stages, with the first tranche due at the end of 2026 and the second tranche by mid-2027. This is hugely ambitious in our opinion, having seen how long other national documents have taken, and how the first cut doesn't often "get it right" (freshwater and natural inland wetlands, anyone…?), but are clearly necessary to ensure the "top-down" direction is in place before Councils embark on developing their combined regional plans.
3. Standardised plans are coming for real
The Government intends for the new system to be more consistent and user friendly, by standardising a range of planning controls. This will involve the creation of nationally standardised zones and overlays to be included in combined plans, as well as a standardised approach to dealing with everyday activities like earthworks. Activity classes are simplified to permitted, restricted discretionary, discretionary and prohibited activities. Standardisation sounds good in theory but will require the right people in the room and technical input to ensure the rules are workable and fit for purpose.
4, Fewer, faster plans
Each region will be required to create a combined plan comprising district land use plans, a regional natural environmental plan and a regional spatial plan (with a 30 year horizon) aligned with the national instruments. With a greater focus on long-term regional spatial planning, regions will be able to better identify a strategy for land use, including marking growth areas and infrastructure networks. This includes an additional pathway for requiring authorities to secure designations, offering a more streamlined process through inclusion in spatial plans. The intention is that the development of spatial plans will be the key point in the system where trade-offs between the environment and economics occurs. This aligns with the intent of resolving conflicts at the higher levels, but we expect will be difficult to achieve in practice.
The process for creating plans will be streamlined, with Councils incentivised to use standardised rather than bespoke plan provisions and having statutory timeframes to complete them – the thought of saying goodbye to long, drawn-out planning processes will be welcome news for many in the development community. Each spatial plan will be developed collaboratively by all local authorities within the region.
5. "Easy" developments and projects should have an easy ride to consent
The new system will take a more targeted and risk-based approach. This will mean that "riskier" activities will be subject to more controls, and "low risk" activities will not require resource consents.
The Planning Bill confirms that effects (including any cumulative effect) that are less than minor are out of scope and cannot be considered when determining consent applications. This will also flow through to consent conditions, with decision-makers unable to impose conditions on effects which are out of scope.
6. Amenity effects are out
As has been previously signalled, effects will be limited to "externalities" that genuinely affect third parties. The Planning Bill now explicitly sets out effects that a decision-maker must disregard when considering the effects of an activity. These include the internal and external layouts of buildings on a site (if you've been thinking about that bold new feature wall in the lounge – now's the time!), negative effects of development on trade competition, retail distribution effects as well as visual amenity and the effect on a landscape (excluding outstanding natural landscapes). This clear guidance will be welcome for many, especially those in the development community that have been at war with neighbours over amenity effects. However, it does pose a broader question of whether we are prepared to leave it to the market to manage landscape and visual amenity through design. Many developers are rightly proud of the design outcome they achieve and how their developments integrate with their surroundings, but there is a wide spectrum of approaches that developers might take, which will worry some segments of the community.
7. Councils will have to pay up if their plans restrict your ability to develop your land
Regulatory relief will be available to landowners whose land is impacted to a significant extent by planning controls relating to significant historic heritage, outstanding natural landscapes or features, sites of significance to Māori, or areas of high natural character. Importantly, this does not apply to critical aspects of the planning system such as designations or natural hazard mapping.
Councils will need to develop a relief framework as part of the plan-making process. Such relief could include rates reductions, bonus development rights, or cash payments. While some landowners will see significant opportunity here, the potential impact on Council balance sheets could be significant. In practice we expect this will strongly disincentivise wide-ranging disenabling provisions by making Councils stop to think before imposing or rolling over planning controls which restrict the use and enjoyment of land.
8. A more prescriptive approach to obligations under te Tīriti
The new system aims to create more certainty and consistency about how Māori interests and Treaty of Waitangi obligations must be considered. The RMA's general obligation for decision-makers to consider Treaty principles is gone, in favour of a more prescriptive approach. Both Bills have prescriptive Treaty of Waitangi provisions which set out specific ways that Treaty considerations are relevant to the functions of each Bill.
Under the Planning Bill, iwi will be involved in making plans and protecting important places, with consultation being required before any national instrument is notified. In addition, obligations under Treaty settlements under the RMA will directly transfer into the new system.
National instruments under the new system will be required to spell out more clearly how Māori interests must be considered when making planning and environment decisions.
9. Environmental limits will be binding (mostly)
Central and local government decision-makers will be able to set binding human health and ecosystem health environmental limits. These will be used to protect resources and allow communities to decide what activities should occur strategically rather than determining this at the individual resource consent stage.
Limits will be linked to specific geographic areas (management units) and resource use must be capped or managed through action plans. Regional councils will be responsible for allocating natural resources through natural environment plans, with the Natural Environment Bill setting up a framework for allocation methods such as auctions, tenders and comparative consenting. The overall aim is to have more certainty about what activities are likely to be approved and to incentivise efficient use of resources.
The new system will include a pathway for plans to allow for development of essential infrastructure that breaches environmental limits where it can't be located elsewhere. We can already see the litigation brewing in relation to use of that pathway.
10. Ripping the band-aid off – a fast (and possibly chaotic) transition
Transitioning into a new legislative framework is always complex and speaking frankly, challenging to execute well. The 10+ year transition contemplated under the previous Government's reform package has been replaced by an intention for the new system to come into effect quickly and to be fully operational by 2029. That will inevitably be painful, and potentially chaotic.
Immediately following Royal Assent, national instruments will be prepared, followed by spatial plans then the regional combined plans – ie a "top-down" approach to design and implementation. The sequential approach makes sense in a perfect world but relies heavily on each layer being completed in a timely manner and with real clarity. While private plan changes have not been expressly "barred" through the transition period, we expect the window for private plan changes to existing plans to be swiftly closing as councils focus their attention on the new combined plans, and the window before existing RMA plans cease to have effect closes.
A "transition period" will also begin one month after the Bills receive Royal Assent. During this time, new consents can still be lodged, and the RMA process will continue to apply with some tweaks to allow some of the benefits of the new system to be realised sooner. The Government also wants to ensure that during the transition phase "nobody is worse off". Urgent legislation was introduced yesterday to ensure any resource consents expiring before the new system comes into effect will be automatically extended to prevent consent holders from being required to go through the motions of renewal, with a major overhaul coming.
Where to from here
The Bills are set to have their first reading next week. There will be a Select Committee process and the Government is encouraging submissions which we expect will be open until 20 February 2026. The Government has signalled it is keen to receive submissions to improve the system.
Spanning hundreds of pages, over two pieces of legislation – there is a lot of detail to work through over the coming weeks. This might sound daunting and not so appealing over your summer break, but the good news is that we are here to help. If you're interested in finding out more about the implications of the new system or making a submission, please get in touch.