Caution around RMA changes

Bay of Plenty councils are yet to be convinced that a significant overhaul of the Resource Management Act will deliver on cutting the considerable amount of red tape around housing.

Photo: File.

Environment Minister Nick Smith announced last week major changes to the act, focussing on housing affordability, natural hazards management, national planning templates, urban planning, infrastructure, speeding up plan making as well as internet speed.

The proposed changes, the most significant overhaul of the Act since its inception 25 years ago, will make it more practical and relevant, standardise council plans and simplify the process for gaining consents - all to improve housing supply and affordability.

Nick says new research which showed environmental red tape added $15,000 to the cost of a new home means councils would be required by law to free up land for development, in line with projections for future population growth.

'The Resource Management Act has produced over 80,000 pages of plans and rules across New Zealand's 78 councils. This 10-metre mountain of red tape is holding back the development of new houses and jobs, and it is not performing well enough in managing key resources like freshwater,” says Nick.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council deputy mayor Gwenda Merriman says with finer details yet to be unveiled there are various ways to look at the proposal.

But most importantly she doesn't believe it will bring a drop in building costs.

'Past legislative changes have only resulted in added complexity, time, and cost to the community.”

While many council already process planning and building consents well within the statutory time some of the consenting processes could be better streamlined, as has been done with the new Housing Accord Act. This is where these RMA changes are needed, says Gwenda.

'However, there is a danger for the community, as such changes will take away some of the input the community currently expects [regarding a more streamlined approach].

Western Bay has ample land zoned, serviced and ready for housing to last well beyond 10 years with council constantly monitoring this land supply.

But the biggest problem is the cost of providing infrastructure and in turn the financial contributions that have to be paid on each section created, says Gwenda.

'Infrastructure has to be provided, as people want to drive on smooth, safe roads, to flush and forget, and use the local parks.

'This can significantly affect the feasibility of development and particularly makes the provision of more affordable housing difficult.”

Tauranga City Council's city planning and growth manager Andy Ralph says the announcement reinforces what the Government signalled in its last term, but there is yet to be any detail about what that reform will look like or how it may affect planning practice.

'Improvements can always be made to a statute as complex as the RMA but until we have more information about what specific changes are proposed, it is too early for Council to comment.”

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3 comments

Wisechief

Posted on 01-02-2015 14:15 | By Wise Chief

Utter rot what this lady is saying & she well knows it. RC & others have continued to undermine local Maori efforts to retain their lands intact knowing full well they cannot access funding like general land does & yet these a-holes never ever give consideration for such a one sided argument. They able to use 80,000 pages of gobbly-gook to fend of any attempt to circumvent on side of common sense or Inalienable Patent Rights of the Discoverers & inherited true land owners.What we have in reality is Apartheid system working overtime to annex what measly lands we have left. Go see how many Maoris from local areas are livng in camp grounds, sheds, hovels & cramped conditions paying massive rents while lands are used to grown maize to pay ever increasing rates. RMA + DOC rushed Crown response to our claims for massive chunks of lands back.


Infrastructure has to be provided

Posted on 01-02-2015 20:07 | By JERRY CORNELIUS

Get Councils out of it, all that they want is to milk new homeowners for cash to try and pay something towards the mountains of debt that past bad decisions have created.


Caution?

Posted on 02-02-2015 03:56 | By JERRY CORNELIUS

That would be better described as that they dont want any change to ther system of excess paperwork, staff and meaningless costs all created in a self serving desired manner.


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