National

In their current term in government, National introduced "simplifying and streamlining" amendments to the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and implemented three national policy statements (NPSs) and four national environmental standards (NESs).  This election National has been busy developing policy around phase two of its RMA reforms.  Under these reforms National would:

• Introduce a six-month statutory time limit on the consenting of medium-sized projects
• Revise sections 6 and 7 of the RMA with a particular view to better addressing natural hazard risks and better managing the growth of urban environments
• Progress the Land and Water Forum’s recommendations to improve freshwater management, quality and allocation
• Improve the integration of plan-making processes for resource management, land transport, and local government
• Strengthen urban design provisions and simplify planning processes in line with the “Competitive Cities” discussion paper
• Repeal the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1941, and the Land Drainage Act 1908, and amend the RMA to incorporate remnants of these Acts into one statute.

Labour

Leader Phil Goff has described Labour's environmental policies as the "boldest".  On the resource management front, Labour would:

• Strengthen the NPS on Freshwater Management 2011 in line with the draft proposed by the board of inquiry
• Implement a water resource rental mechanism, which will charge major water users
• Strengthen the NPS on renewable electricity, and the proposed NPS on indigenous biodiversity
• Investigate opportunities for improving processes between the RMA and other legislation that will help reduce the time and cost of consent applications without compromising opportunities for public input
• Strengthen the Environmental Protection Authority so that it is "a comprehensive, transparent and strong environmental regulator with clear powers and purposes, including above all to protect the environment"
• Develop and propose new NESs and NPSs, hinting at possible NPSs on biofuels and sustainability education
• Review section 76 of the RMA to ensure that urban trees have a proper level of protection.

Greens

The Green Party states that "the RMA is our key environmental law and has been repeatedly weakened to smooth the path of developers".  The Greens would:

• Amend the NPS on freshwater management so that it includes specific targets and timeframes for water quality
• Ensure that regional councils and unitary authorities implement integrated water system catchment management plans
• Make it a requirement to have a resource consent to convert land for the farming of ruminants or to intensify stocking rates and require councils to set limits on nitrogen and phosphate run-off
• Provide for regional councils to set charges for agricultural and industrial water use (except drinking water for stock), and use the revenue to fund their sustainable management function
• Accelerate the development of national and regional air quality standards
• Increase environmental legal aid to increase the ability of citizens' groups to take part in RMA processes
• Ensure regional councils cannot enter confidentiality agreements over scientific information relevant to sustainability decisions
• Introduce a NPS on Sustainable Energy "to help guide the transition to a sustainable energy future"
• Provide planning assistance to district and regional councils, to enable them to provide sites for wind farms in their plans that minimise conflict with other community values in advance of specific proposals.

ACT

The Act Party have announced plans to overhaul the RMA, which Don Brash has labelled as a "piece of Frankenstein legislation" which has "grown out of control and become a danger to us all".  The Act Party would:

• Separate the planning functions of councils from decisions on applications for resource consent
• Limit the fees that councils can charge for consents
• Widen the scope for the Environment Court to award costs against councils and other objectors to resource consents when their objections are not sustained by the Court
• Increase the right to compensation for those whose land values are reduced by council planning decisions
• Clarify that the only harms and benefits that should be considered are those that relate to human welfare, and that "intrinsic values" are not to be considered.

Other parties

• The Māori Party would develop iwi environmental monitoring and evaluation on water quality and ensure that iwi are involved in the governance and decision-making on freshwater
• United Future would require a biennial review of the RMA with regard to the costs, delays and uncertainty faced by users, and would require the Ministry for the Environment to monitor and benchmark regional authorities' administration of the RMA
• The Mana Party would give hapu and iwi decision-making powers equal to government and local government in developing environmental policies, including RMA plans.

This article is provided for general information purposes only and not as legal advice.  For further information, please contact Paul Beverley, Patrick Mulligan, Kerry Smith, Rachel Dunningham, Cedric Carranceja, David Allen, David Randal, Andrew Braggins or Vanessa Evitt.