Local Government Minister Rodney Hide's work on 'simplifying” the Resource Management Act is being criticised by Tauranga City Council.
The council called its lawyers in to Tuesday's council meeting to help unravel contradictions council staff discovered in the new Act.

Rodney Hide speaking to CAT in Tauranga earlier this year.

The Act came into effect at the beginning of this month.
The confusion is over when the draft district plan takes effect. Under the old law it didn't take effect until after submissions and public hearings. Under the new simplified Resource Management Act, some aspects of the draft plan appear to have a legal effect, upon being notified.
They relate to conservation issues regarding the elements, native fauna and flora, historic heritage and an aquaculture management area.
'There were some points that could be read from two perspectives,” says Mayor Stuart Crosby.
Lawyer Paul Cooney's advice was for the council to take the conservative approach where the legal meaning was unclear and there were conflicting provisions. An alternative is to take it to the Environment Court, which will take time.
Public notification of the district plan will give environmental provisions a legal effect but it will not make them operative. The amount of legal effect is a weighting issue on which there is case law.
The consensus is public notification of a plan may give immediate legal effect to some environmental issues that will not affect a great number of people.
The public is aware of the matter and any issues that arise can be dealt with during the submissions process.
'Rodney gets zero out of 10 for his first exercise,” says Bill Faulker.